


Rwby: Our Way

by AlmaArachnidFriendEmpress



Series: Rwby - Her Way Series [2]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Adventures Across Remnant, Awkward Cinder Still Being Awkward, Awkward Cute Cinder With Bae, Awkward Flirting Because Cinder Sucks At It, Badass Roaming Girls On An Adventure, Blake Trying To Set Things Right, Broken As Fuck Semblance, Canon Compliant, Disturbing Themes, F/F, Good Cinder Fall, Interesting As Fuck Semblance, More Happy Go Lucky, More More Nuanced Cinder, More of Cinder's Solid Ass Backstory Coming Into Play Because It's Actually Important, Neo Further Redemption (She Wasn't Quite There Yet), Ozpin Fucked Up, Redeemed Cinder, Romance, Salem Is Scarier As A Human, Threats Other Than Salem, World's Shittiest Moms
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-18
Updated: 2020-11-23
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:01:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 83,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26922544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlmaArachnidFriendEmpress/pseuds/AlmaArachnidFriendEmpress
Summary: It's been two years since the victory at Atlas - since the saving of Atlas. It's been two years of peace, and discovery, and healing. But for Cinder, there is still more to discover out there. Still more to do. Things she has to do. But luckily, she won't have to do any of it alone - Flora accompanies her, as do friends old and new, on an adventure to span Remnant. A very personal and intimate adventure, in search of the one tangible piece of her past that still exists out there...somewhere. But what will she do when she finally finds it? And what if finding it...unleashes on the world a whole new slew of troubles and dangers?
Relationships: Cinder Fall/OC
Series: Rwby - Her Way Series [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1964404
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	1. Trust Love

"Bae: you're eight years old now - you'll still have auntie Neo and auntie Em taking care of you, and auntie Blake will drop in from time to time, too - and it will only be for a couple of weeks!" Flora's firm but consoling tones came from down the hall.

"I know..." said the girl, with a sniffle. "But...I just can't stop thinking about what if something really bad happens to you guys! Like what happened to daddy...and to me, too. Or- what if Cinder gets hurt again, like before?"

"The only person we know with Silver Eyes isn't going to just walk up and blast her," Flora replied, reasonable - and a dash humorous. "I think she'll be safe from that."

"But what if...?"

Elsewhere in the house - smack dab in middle of the living room - Cinder was sighing as two year old (nearly three, now) Maggy toddled over to her and hugged her leg, blinking up at her with those shimmering eyes of hers; was she really going to lose this fight? _This one_? If she spent any more time looking into those eyes, she damn well was...

"Maggy," she said, getting down on a knee and pushing the girl back. She pushed long, straight hair of shimmering black behind an ear. "Listen: You'll be okay! Neo loves you - you love her, don't you?"

Maggy nodded despite her tears and blubbering. "But I l-love you _more_ , mommy!"

Cinder's soul soared. She smiled widely, nodding. "I know - and I think that's so- so wonderful. You're a wonderful girl. _My_ wonderful girl! But my wonderful girl needs to stop crying before she gives mommy a migraine again," she concluded firmly.

"Sorry for m'grain, mommy, but I c-can't help it - don't want you to go!"

Cinder restrained another sigh. "It's not forever, okay? Just a couple of weeks! I go away every day for work at the cafe!" she added, switching tactics.

"I don't want you to go! I don't want you to!"

Cinder growled, wracking her brains for _something_ that would work. She really missed the days _before_ Maggy had learned to talk. And walk. And do anything other than lay around looking cute. Sure, part of that was just her own issues (thoroughly explored over past two years in initially-grating therapy sessions) with having a solid sense of control in her life - and over everyone _in it_ \- but she also knew that another part of it was just the plain fact that parenting a cute lump of a baby was a lot easier than a walking, talking, thinking-for-itself toddler.

"Maggy...I'm going, and that's that," she said, standing. She lifted her chin and crossed her arms. "Deal with it."

Maggy clung to her leg really, really strong for her age - and size - and began flat out wailing now.

"Hhhhhrrrrrggggggg." Cinder threw her arms down to her sides and began stalking through the house in a very undignified way, with a great weight hanging from one leg. "Flora! Help! I have no idea what to even say to-"

"Alright, why don't we swap out?" Flora nodded swiftly. She bent over to pry Maggy free, take the squirming, wailing girl into her arms. "You talk to Bae, I'll handle Maggy."

Cinder nodded back; Flora swept out of the room, the wailing diminishing somewhat. Her eye fell on Bae, who was gazing at her like it was the last time she was ever going to get to again.

"So..." Cinder started, seating herself on the bed next to the girl.

"Do you really, really have to go do this?" Bae asked, strained.

"It's really important to me," Cinder said quietly. "I've waited a long time to even go for this at all - maybe too long. For all I know, my mother died sometime in the last two years."

"I know it's important, but...but I..."

"What?"

"I...I'm- important too...right?"

Cinder eyed Bae, surprised. "Is that how you feel? You think that _I_ don't think you're important?"

Bae didn't look at her. "I- no? I didn't mean- I'm sorry!"

Cinder shook her head, exasperated. "No, look, you said it - it's already out there. Now let's talk about it."

"Well...You always have work, and you go out a lot too - as the Fall Maiden - and...and now you're just going away for weeks!"

"And?"

"And...m-maybe it- feels like you just- don't want to spend too much time with me?"

"And that makes sense to you?" Cinder snorted. "I adopt a kid, and then I ignore her. Why even take you in to begin with, then?"

"I didn't- it's just...I'm sorry!"

"Ugh. Look, Bae: if it seems like I don't- have enough time for you in my life- I'll try to make that better, okay? I'll do better for you! But...after this. I need this, it's very important. I've never been away for this long, I know that, but I promise you that I'll be coming back. Safe and sound. And then...I'll take some days off work, I'll- we can go to the movies, or the park, or- anything you want. We'll do it together! Okay?"

Bae finally gave her a nod. "Ok..."

"Good." Cinder stood, reached out to stroke Bae's cheek - pat her on the head - with human hand. "Be good for your aunts. I love you - we both love you, so much. Please don't doubt that again; it's stupid."

Bae giggled. "I know, but I just can't help it..."

"I know," Cinder acknowledged. She left the room to find Flora - it wasn't hard, just follow the crying.

After a straight hour of dealing with Maggy, even Flora finally just threw up her hands and decided it was best to rip the bandage off and leave already. She'd settle on her own, get used to it because she had to.

Cinder and Flora exited the house together. Flora went to start the already packed up car; Cinder lingered on the steps to meet eyes with Neo and Emerald.

"I expect you to kill yourselves for them if you have to," she spoke clearly.

Neo rolled her eyes.

"I promise we won't let you down!" Emerald said instantly, face shining.

Cinder stroked Emerald's cheek. "I know you won't. You've never let me down, Emerald."

Emerald was practically melting under her touch, her cheeks flushed, her eyes sparkling. "And I won't start now!"

Cinder drew her hand away from hot skin. "No, you won't. I'll see you in a few weeks - but we'll be calling in every day via scroll."

"Of course! I hope you succeed at finding your mother."

"Thank you." Cinder gave a nod to Neo, and went to join Flora in the car.

She watched Neo and Emerald disappear into the house before giving a fixed smile to Flora.

Flora started them off through the streets of Mantle.

Cinder leaned back, then leaned herself right against her side window. In her lap, her hands were twisting over each other. Long, straight black hair curtained her face quite perfectly.

"Hey - they'll be fine," Flora spoke confidently. "They have two of the most _invested_ babysitters imaginable. And they'll have even more help around if they need it, too."

"They'd better," Cinder muttered.

"You just have to trust them. You _do_ trust those two, don't you?"

"I do - but that doesn't stop me from worrying."

It was funny, really, how one could go from being annoyed out of her mind and wanting to get away from her little brats at all costs...to wanting nothing more than to hop out of a moving car and go flying back to them. To just- sweep them up in her arms and hold them again, and tell them she _wasn't_ leaving them after all - not ever! That this was a big mistake, that they were right, that nothing mattered more than them - not even her mother, not even her own past...

"I worry, too," Flora offered. "But we've trusted them to the people we have, and we're doing this - we're going. We have to get past all the baseless fears, too."

"I know." Cinder drew her head back, and smacked her face against the window. She shook her head and sat up straight. "I think it's going to take me a while, though."

"Then it will take you a while - but I'll be here to help you through it."

Cinder smiled. "I'm- glad to have you around for that."

"And for everything else, I assume!" Flora laughed.

"That was implied," Cinder quickly assured, her cheeks heating up. "All of it!"

"Hey, relax - I know I'm not just an emotional support pet."

"You really aren't; you're my partner."

"And I'm glad to be."

"I'm glad, too. Glad...to be _your_ partner. I don't des- I mean, just...yeah." Cinder lapsed into a hasty silence.

Flora grinned - saying nothing, but knowing exactly what Cinder had been about to do again. Well, _almost_ saying nothing.

"Gods, you're cute..."

"Yeah, well, you're...cuter - and also...really pretty and amazing and...totally, completely lovely! Yeah, that..."

"Thanks!"


	2. Aisha The Swift

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter, at last, a reason why I gave this series a nice cautious M rating! Besides graphic violence and swearing - I mean sexy stuff! But in no way do I write stupid smut; I advance plot and character! But I also have a lot of fun doing it...

The wild forests of the southerns of the continent of Sanus sprawled endless as the airship soared over them.

Cinder and Flora disembarked in the moderately sized city of Valleth, and booked themselves into a hotel for a single night's stay - they planned to move on next morning light, and were only even staying here because the long flight of ten hours had taken plenty out of them on its own.

The pair had just gotten themselves settled onto nice bedsheets when Cinder's scroll went off.

She rolled over and took it up, answering immediately on sight of who her caller was. A smile came to her face.

"Hey, mom."

"Cin! And Flora, too?" Lisari's voice came over the line.

"I'm definitely still around - for some reason," Flora chimed in jest, pressing against Cinder's backside and resting her cheek on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry to call so late-" Lisari started.

"It's fine," Cinder said quickly. "We just got into Valleth."

"Valleth. That actually isn't even too outrageously far from here," Lisari replied, laughing. "I could come and see you both."

"You could," Cinder agreed, laughing too. "So, what _are_ you calling for? I- I mean- are you checking in on us, or is there something wrong, or...?"

"Neither of those, honestly. I'll just get right to it, so you don't worry! I know this is very out of the blue, but I was just wondering whether or not it would be fine with you two if I went over to Atlas and stayed a while? With Maggy?"

"Of course that's fine," Flora assured, smiling.

"Completely," Cinder agreed instantly. "Do you have enough lien for the flight to Atlas? We can send however much you need-"

"I have enough to get there," Lisari interrupted, kind but firm. "But, thank you, Cin; that's really thoughtful of you."

"You can see Maggy any time you want," Cinder spoke on. "You don't even have to call us to ask. You can just...do it."

"Intercontinental flight isn't something you _just do_ ," Lisari laughed. "At least, not if you're a normal woman like me."

"But you're a normal woman with a not-normal adopted daughter," Cinder said. "And you should feel free to take advantage of that whenever you need to."

"I already am," Lisari said, nodding.

Cinder took the self evident point with a nod of her own; with the threat of Salem still out there, and with Cinder's pardoning and life allowed in Atlas by Ironwood, Lisari felt like the safest person for Maggy to be with was still her out-and-open Fall Maiden of an adoptive daughter - with the Winter Maiden also babysitting often. Two Maidens was inarguably more protection than Lisari herself could ever give Maggy, as evidenced by what had started the whole thing - that being Hazel's break in of her home, and the Seer grimm killing Jenna in that own home. Lisari's inability to even keep either her wife or her daughter safe that night. Feeling and thoughts that had never gone away, not even years later.

"Well, she'll love seeing you again," Cinder said brightly. "After every time you _do_ visit, she asks about you for weeks, nonstop!"

Lisari's face lit up. "I'll get myself ready and get over there in a couple days."

"We'll let their babysitters know you're coming," Flora said.

"Who _are_ their sitters?" Lisari asked.

"Neo and Emerald," Cinder answered confidently.

"Two of the ones who helped defend Mantle."

"Two of my only friends," Cinder said. "They're wonderful, trust me."

Her mother just nodded. "If you trust them, then I do, too. I only wish I wasn't just going to meet them _now_. I suppose it was just bad timing for my previous visits..."

Cinder's hand brushed long hair from her face, absent; Flora gave a big yawn against her. "Well, we should probably wrap this up...you did say it: it _is_ late."

"All right. Thank you - I'm sorry, again. But, I'm glad I could talk with you two."

"We were glad too," Cinder said earnestly.

"Very glad," Flora affirmed. "Have a wonderful night!"

"Thank you."

The call was ended.

Flora pawed at Cinder, yawning again in so short a timespan. "Lay _down_ , give me your chest, please..."

"If you can promise not to get distracted again."

"You know I can't make any promises about _that_..." Flora pouted fakely - and cutely.

"Then I can't promise you I won't throw you off again," Cinder replied, laying flat on her backside and sliding down under the covers. With all her burn scars and damaged nerves all over her front, not even her breasts had been spared their fair share of damages. Except for one lucky nipple, which was now a beacon of sensitivity and pleasure among the landscape of dead flesh surrounding it. Often times way _too much_ , as Flora had discovered during their nights together. Unfortunately. Cinder felt awful every time about it, no matter how much Flora told her it was just physical reaction, and thus totally understandable...

"I'll be really, really careful this time."

Cinder smirked. "You said that last time..."

"I mean it this time."

"We'll see."

"Yes, yes we will..."

* * *

Cinder twisted out from under Flora and flipped right over her, coming down to straddle her backside and pin her to the bed with a hand to her neck. The other was holding both Flora's wrists, keeping her arms trapped across her lower back. She bent low over her, breathing in her ear and grinning wide. "I thought you were all tired out?"

"I'm going to get you...just once!" Flora huffed, squirming.

"So you're not tired."

Flora burst with dark purple energy, her soul made manifest, and launched Cinder several feet high - forcing Cinder to let her go. She rolled aside and grabbed Cinder's arm as she came back down, and then she was sideflipping to straddle Cinder's waist. They bounced twice on the bed and settled. She snagged Cinder's grimm arm and yanked it high to join her human one, pinning both limbs to the wall above Cinder's head. "Five seconds..." she breathed, ragged, her face shining with sweat and determination - her hair plastered to her face, and wildly frizzy about her head. "That's all I need!"

Cinder gazed up at her, single eye alight with joy. She burst her own Aura and twisted her body, parting her legs and trapping Flora's waist between them. She rolled them over, freeing an arm in the process. She pressed herself close to Flora and grappled with her for a minute, until she again had Flora beneath her, on her stomach, with her arms stuck behind her own back.

"I...almost had you!" Flora heaved. "I really almost did - when I had your-"

"You almost did," Cinder agreed, digging her knees into Flora's ribs when she tried to shift around again. She smiled to herself quite wickedly, and reinforced her human hand with Aura empowered strength as she let go of Flora's wrists with her grimm claws. She closed all digits but one, and dragged a claw's tip ever so lightly down Flora's bared backside.

Flora's eyes went wide; her cheeks turned pink as her back arched. "H-hey! Cheap moves, cheap moves detected!"

"If this was an actual fight to the death, there would be no such thing as a cheap move..." Cinder said idly, dragging her claw down Flora's spine, causing shivers to race through Flora's body. On further, to the lowest low. Right to her tailbone. "Absolutely nothing...cheap... _at all_. You go for the face, the eyes, the ears, the nose...elbows, knees, shins - _the ass_ , even..."

"R-really? D-do you do this to every woman you fight with?" Flora stuttered, body bucking again - but this time, not in any way related to trying to dislodge Cinder from her body.

Cinder's smirk grew as her claw stroked, scraped - a bit firmer, now, in this location. "Really."

"Is the ass thing just a _you_ thing, or is that an actual viable...weak point?"

"It might be a little of both," Cinder replied. "If you're ever in a real situation like this - down to nothing, no weapon, no clothes, not even anything around you to use - then yes, it's as viable a place to strike at as the others."

"That's handy to k-know...not that I think I'll ever need to use it."

"Are you going to actually try to fight me again any time soon?"

"I don't exactly want to now..." Flora huffed.

Cinder sighed melodramatically, and gave a hard _scratch_ that had Flora gasping. "Then I guess I win again. But there's always tomorrow night."

"Let me try again!"

"Well, try again then," Cinder said simply. But she did let up a bit - just a little loosening of her grip on Flora's wrists. She was meant to be training her, not completely dominating her into frustration or humiliation. "I'm not going to have you go into a real fight thinking the opponent should go easy on you, though, you know."

"I know that, I just- I almost had you!" Flora burst out, laughing. "Please, just one more go, I can get you!"

"Whenever you're ready."

"Whenever _you're_ ready!" Flora retorted.

Cinder rolled her eye. "Okay, then. Let's just go on three; three, two, one..."

Flora bucked her whole body and exploded her Aura, sending Cinder flipping back across the room.

Cinder slid back, low to the floor, until her ass hit the wall, steadying and slowing herself with human hand and not grimm (they didn't need to be fined for tearing up the hotel's nice carpet work).

Flora launched herself off the bed in a flying punch.

Cinder stretched out a leg and kicked off the wall, sending herself sliding forward with her Aura - right under Flora, and on past her.

Flora whipped around after a stumble to find Cinder already waiting for her.

Cinder placed a hand on hip, smirking. Lifted her chin just so.

Flora lunged, committing to a flurry of punches and kicks alike.

Cinder blocked, dodged, and redirected with admitted ease - though, markedly less ease than two years ago, when they'd first started these intimate sessions (in addition to their _other_ intimate sessions, of course; although sometimes, like tonight, they spilled over into each other - and god did she love it when they did).

Flora's expression changed, her eyes darted down, and then she was dropping low and sweeping a leg; Cinder lifted one foot, then the other, letting the attack miss without even having to clear the ground.

Cinder jabbed a palm out to catch Flora in the chest. Flora immediately grabbed her outstretched wrist and yanked her inward - to Cinder's genuine surprise - crashing their bodies together in heat and sweat. Flora's arm slid under Cinder's and folded at elbow, clearly trying to lock her in, while her other arm was moving up for her shoulder. Cinder responded by sliding a thigh between her legs, smirking as she rested her chin on Flora's shoulder.

"M-more cheap moves!" Flora cried out, spinning them 180 degrees and making to push Cinder against the dresser - presumably to try and bend her back over it and make her lose her balance.

To prevent this, Cinder hiked her knee high, lifting Flora up into the air on that leg - and held her suspended there. She drew her head back and gave her a smile. "Well, it wouldn't have worked so well if you weren't already so _slick_ there, now would it? I really appreciate that opening..."

Flora cringed and let Cinder's arm go finally, and in a flash had decided to drive her elbow into Cinder's gut; Cinder dropped her and fell back, squaring herself again.

"Fine, if you're going to use cheap moves..." Flora murmured, face stealing over with a fierce grin.

"That's what I _want_ to see," Cinder encouraged.

"Oh, I know what you want to see," Flora responded, and she hopped up and down on the balls of her feet.

Cinder shifted her legs, keeping her eyes squarely on Flora's face. "That's...certainly one thing I don't mind seeing..."

"Did it distract you?"

"No," Cinder said flatly. _Damn near almost..._

"Damnit! Well how about- _haha, tricked you_!" Flora closed the gap and brought her leg up, kicking Cinder square in the stomach. She snapped it back down, then back up again, catching her a second time. "You were wide open with that one! I can't believe it actually worked! Or are you just having a rough night tonight? Let's make it _rougher_!" Flora kicked out a third time.

Cinder grabbed Flora's ankle in grimm claws and yanked her off her feet - and then lifted her high to hold her upside down, stretching the limb out with its unique properties. They stared at each other on eye level a moment.

"Wow, I didn't know you could do this with that!" Flora exclaimed, her hair hanging like a mop. Her face was turning red, but her eyes were shining. She cocked her head upside down, gave Cinder a once over. "Two years and you're only breaking this out _now_? We could have been doing _so much with this_! I think my brain is getting all _fuzzy_ and that's just so-"

"Is it too fuzzy to focus on combat?"

"Let me think...if I _can_ think...Alright, I can think - let's do this!"

"I'm just waiting on you..."

"Well how about you wait on _this_! Wait, no, that didn't even make sense..."

Cinder sighed as she raised an arm to casually block Flora's haymaker for her face. "More advice for you: _please stop with trying to figure out one liners!_ "

"Why?! I've heard you use them before! And they sounded pretty hot, especially when you do that voice you do. Then again, you're almost always doing the voice, so everything you say sounds hot by default..."

"Did you ever think that I can _afford_ to use one liners because I'm a Maiden with a powerful grimm extremity?"

"...No. But, thinking on it now, that makes total sense."

"Doesn't it."

"Well...well...Could you please just lower me down another few feet here? Your tits are just taunting me here, just...out of...reach..."

Cinder stifled a horrendous case of the giggles, willing her sides not to tremble. "Flora - _put your tongue back in your mouth!_ "

"No!"

"If you don't, I'm going to flip you rightside up, and you might bite it."

"I have my Aura up! Do your worst!"

"I'm glad you didn't forget about _that_ lesson, then." Cinder put word to action, and gave her grimm limb an upward swing.

Flora flipped up and connected her feet with the ceiling, and used an Aura burst to send herself rocketing right back down for Cinder.

Cinder flashed an arm up, which Flora used as a bar to hold herself up on in handstand.

Flora's head came up, a huff of air to get long locks out of her face. "Hi there."

"Hi," Cinder said dryly. "Bye now."

Cinder threw her arm to the side, and Flora went sailing off with the motion.

Flora managed to stabilize herself in the air and go into a sideways roll, coming up on a knee.

Cinder was the one to move to close the space between them now, coming in with a series of rapid kicks that had an off-kilter Flora evading and blocking with her own legs.

They danced with legs alone for a few precious seconds - until Flora turned her leg aside and hooked Cinder behind a knee, and gave a hard _tug_.

Cinder went down, catching herself with one hand and raising the other to fend off a swift follow-up kick from Flora.

Cinder blocked and shoved and got to her feet again in short order. "Good one," she offered with a smile.

Flora looked elated. "Thanks! Now let's see how you handle this!" She burst forward with Aura, began raining kicks and punches wildly, and then she was bursting her Aura from her feet and flipping up over Cinder entirely. She came down behind her before Cinder could fully turn around- and then she had wrapped her arms around Cinder's torso and pulled herself in, and grasped flesh.

"Oh god - I hope _you_ don't ever actually try to fight like this with any other woman!" Cinder quipped, laughing. "Though, this isn't much a cheap move. And I'm not disabled in the least." To demonstrate, she seized Flora's wrists and slammed a foot back for the front of her ankle. Flora slid her leg out of the way and kicked back against the back of _Cinder's ankle_ \- nearly felling her in a good attempt.

Suddenly Flora's grip shifted, and her index and thumb pinched Cinder's functional left nipple; Cinder gaped and arched under involuntarily trembles. "Aren't you?" came Flora's sweet tones.

_Now that...is so cheap!_

Flora hurled the both of them forwards, slamming Cinder to the floor in a way that would have knocked all wind from her had her Aura not been up. She slammed right on top of Cinder's body and was seizing her arms, yanking them up behind her furiously.

Cinder rolled, and Flora went with it, so that they just ended up in the same positions again - a wasted, useless full roll over.

Flora tried again for her arms, grunting and huffing down at Cinder. "Would you- just- stay still!"

"M-make me..." Cinder breathed, resting her cheek on the floor and laughing high.

"How old are you supposed to be?"

"N-no- gah- Flora- I meant literally - make me, find a way to make me!"

"Oh. Well...I'm trying here!"

"Try harder - focus, use anything. Do whatever. Again - except the tits!"

"Well, if the tits are off limits..." Flora shoved Cinder in the square of her back as she tried to rise again. Flora took one hand away from Cinder's arms, and then it was burying itself in Cinder's lengthy shimmering strands. She twisted it all up in her fist and _pulled_.

"Flora!" Cinder gasped as her head was yanked up and back.

The fist immediately extracted itself from her hair, letting her go. Flora got up off her. "I'm sorry, I didn't think that was-"

"Huh?" Cinder rolled over to stare up at Flora. "Why'd you stop?"

"I thought I actually-"

"What?"

"Hurt you? Went too far with it?" Flora had hands over her mouth.

"No!" Cinder laughed, sitting up and crossing her legs. "You really almost had me with that one! Flora, that was exactly what I wanted you to try! That was good, you find your move, you work with what you have, you play dirty if it gets you the win!"

"But going for the hair is just so..." Flora shook her head, letting her hands fall away to reveal an uncertain smile.

"We had our Auras up," Cinder reminded. "You weren't going to actually hurt me! Not that badly. You could have won it, Flora!"

Flora's smile grew back again. Then she fell to the floor, hard on her ass, and took her own head in hands. "Damnit! Really?"

"Really!" _Possibly; I could still have gotten free any of a dozen ways, especially if it was a real, life or death fight...But this is about building confidence and getting the movements down._

"Damnit!" Flora reiterated, slumping to faceplant on the carpet, her ass upturned. "I can't believe I was that close for once..." she bemoaned into the floor. "I was on the verge of victory!"

"You really were. I think you'll definitely get me next time - or the time after that. You're getting so close, so good now. Really, you are."

"Thanks..."

Cinder crawled over to her and sat next to her - gave Flora's ass a pat and a caress. "Want to try again? One more time?"

"Well, now I just kind of want you to massage me a bit more..."

"You're not actually hurt here."

"I know - Aura - but it's the thought that counts, right?"

"Right..."

Flora's head perked up. "Alright, let's try again!"

Cinder grinned. "One more time, and then we go to bed?"

"Yeah! Alright, on three - _threetwoone go_!"

Flora whipped her lower body around, roundhouse kicking Cinder clean across the face with the back of a foot.

Cinder went with the blow and twirled on hands and knees, flinging herself up to her feet with a little dash of Aura.

Flora was on her, furious and more determined than ever.

 _Is there even such a thing as a third wind?_ Cinder wondered, reengaging her partner. _If she gets a fourth when we go to bed, I don't think even I'll be able to handle it..._

* * *

Cinder shifted, and rolled over to find there was a dark skinned woman perched on her window sill.

This woman had on a hard mask to conceal the lower half of her face, and wore a tight-fitting outfit with too many belts and pouches attached to count. Cinder's eye immediately noted the collapsible hilt of some weapon on her primary waist belt.

For a long moment, the two just stared at each other.

Cinder in sleep fog, not quite sure if what she was seeing was a dream, hallucination, or maybe some strange misunderstanding...

And then it cleared.

She tensed, and her eyes lit up with burning flames in the darkness.

"Shit!" The woman whirled, long beautiful braids flying, and flipped up out of sight with ease, precision, and a helpful burst of Aura.

Cinder leaped out the window and activated her Maiden powers from her bare feet, soaring up after the woman without a second thought.

The woman was fast, balanced and confident with her footwork. Across roofs she leapt, sliding down the sides and flipping off ledges like it was nothing, no thought given to where hand or foot would be - just the confidence that they _would be_ where they were needed to be. And they were!

Cinder gained on her almost without even trying, of course - flying overhead was too great an advantage to have. It rendered all her opponent's fancy footwork moot (impressive as it all was, she had to admit).

She boosted herself forward and made to tackle the woman bodily from the next rooftop; but the woman slid herself out of the way with an Aura-blast out of a foot pressed to side of a chimney. Cinder twisted around and flew for her again, this time flexing a hand at her side to pulse Maiden magic in another form: ice. Ice formed over the woman's feet instantly, and so when she tried again to dodge, she found herself unexpectedly stuck in place.

Cinder bodied her, taking her down into an alley and slamming her into a wall. Not to much surprise, a turquoise Aura flared over the woman's body on the hard-hitting impact. The woman bounced back from it and lashed out with her fists - Cinder batted them aside and clasped grimm clawed digits around her throat, shoving her flat to the wall again with superior strength.

"I'm getting _really damn tired_ of people spying on me through my windows in my life," Cinder hissed in the woman's face, materializing a flaming blade and holding it to her neck. _Seriously, do I just have a sign on my back that says, "Feel free to perv on me"? Is it just some vibe I'm giving off to the world?_ "Tell me why you were, before I end _yours_!"

The woman struggled a bit before finally seeming to realize she wasn't getting out of it; she stilled, her hands came up, and her Aura dropped. "That's a little hard to explain..." she gasped out.

Cinder pressed her blade; sizzling, and a miniscule trail of smoke - a cry. "Try your best, then. I'm not exactly in the right mood to be patient with the person who broke into my room - where _my partner_ _was sleeping_!"

"N-no, I mean I c-can't exactly talk with your...monster hand on my windpipe like this..."

"Oh - right..." Cinder eased her grip, just a bit. "Now tell me!"

The woman gulped down a grateful breath of air. "Okay, so, this might sound really dumb, buuuut...I was hired to bring you to my employer."

Cinder snorted. "That _is_ dumb. Did you think you actually stood a chance against _me_?"

"Not in the slightest - I see that _now_ \- but the pay was way too good to pass up."

"What pay?"

"A billion lien."

"Right, okay. So, what are you? Some sort of mercenary?"

"Bounty hunter. For people."

"Obviously."

"Obviously!"

"Right..." Cinder murmured, letting a breath go. "What's your name, and how old are you?"

"Aisha, and, I'm twenty-one."

"Right...okay, Aisha, listen to me very carefully on this, because I am not repeating myself to you." Cinder burned her Maiden eye flames to life, shoving her face into Aisha's. " _You're an idiot._ "

Aisha nodded. "Got it!"

"Really? Do you _really_?"

"I am...ninety-two percent sure."

Cinder lifted Aisha up by the throat, clear off the ground. "Try a hundred."

"I'm getting there..."

"Your employer - who was it? You weren't, by any chance, sent after me by a woman that goes by the name of Salem? Pale skin, blonde hair, blue eyes?"

"My employer doesn't go by that name or have those features."

"Are you _sure_?"

"A hundred percent on this one! It wasn't even a woman, it was a man! Please, can you just let me down? Game's over; I failed!"

"A GAME?!" Cinder snarled, yanking her closer just to slam her back against the wall again. "My partner and I have had our lives threatened more than once before, and to wake up at night with someone armed and sitting in my window _was not fun! It was terrifying! If you'd really been there looking to attack us, to kill us, to kill her, or to kidnap her instead of me - we have children, we have children and if you'd taken us from them-_ "

"But I d-didn't, I didn't! I failed hard, clearly, so why don't we just call it-"

" _I don't care!_ " Cinder whirled and threw the woman across the alley - Aisha barely got up her Aura in time before her face smacked against the opposite wall of hard stone. " _You wanted me? Well, here I am!_ "

She lifted into the air on swirling winds, calling rumbling clouds above; a raised hand and a bolt of lightning flashed down to strike Aisha in the chest and send her flying down the alley. Aisha ricocheted off a dumpster and rolled to a stop.

Cinder hovered forward, and with a jerk of her chin she sent the dumpster flying at Aisha.

Aisha leaped over it; Cinder blasted at her with a handful of streaking blue lightning strands, catching her in mid air and tearing through her aura. Aisha hit hard on her face, a loud crack splitting the alleyway.

She pushed herself up, blood pouring down her face. Fear on that face now as she looked at Cinder.

_Good!_

Cinder flicked her wrist and froze the woman instantly from the neck down.

She flew forward and punched her in the face. Once, twice, a third time, a fourth.

She twirled in the air and kicked her in the chest, exploding her Aura and shattering the ice - sending the woman flying once more. Skidding now across the alley floor without Aura, in a way that definitely had to _hurt_.

"Cinder!"

Cinder turned around to find Flora running up to her. "Stay back and keep your Aura up!"

"Screw that, I'm going to get a punch in, too!"

Cinder held out an arm to stop Flora from just rushing on past her. "No - this isn't-"

"Isn't what?"

"She's only after me - not you. I don't want you giving her a reason to start hurting you, too."

"I'm not actually here to _hurt_ anyone," Aisha spoke up, bracing herself on the wall. "Just to bring my mark in! It isn't perso-"

Cinder raised a hand and slammed the woman into the wall with a gust of fierce wind. Once, twice, and then she stuck her to the wall in an icy cocoon. She stalked for her, seized her jaw in hand and squeezed. "You're going to tell me who sent you. _Now_."

"It was just some man - he didn't give me a name. He was tall, had a lot of scars, really pale, and he had a big long beard of lightish red - brown eyes, I think?"

"How old would you say this man was?"

"Maybe late fifties?"

"Okay. And where did you meet him?"

"He came to me a few days ago, in the next city over - that way. He told me he knew I was looking for more work, and he had a job that could set me up for life. For several lives! So I said yes, of course. Who wouldn't?"

"Right. And he told you that your target was _the Fall Maiden_?"

"Well...no. If I had known that ahead of time, I never would have taken the job! That's just setting me up to fail."

"Then he never told you my name? Cinder Rynon?"

"He told me your first name - but a different last name," Aisha replied, confused.

Cinder leaned in, narrowing her eye. "What was the name?"

"Aryle. He said Cinder Aryle. Not Rynon."

Cinder let Aisha's face go, stepping back. She glanced at Flora. Her harsh breaths eased. "What even are those odds?" she said aloud.

Flora's face was overcome with worry - with _fear_. "Do you think that someone's been spying on us? Besides _her_?" She gestured crudely at Aisha. "How could they know that we were just setting out for your family? Or where we even were? That we stopped _here_ for tonight?"

"Let's ask." Cinder whipped around, raising her blade to place the tip to Aisha's nose. "He told you where to find us, the man who hired you? Right here in this city, right in that hotel? Tonight?"

Aisha's eyes went wide. "Y-yeah! He gave me your room number, told me to try going in after midnight for you. He said you'd have a companion, but not to worry about her at all."

Flora pulled an offended look, huffing. "I bet I could have taken you."

"Probably," Cinder assured her absently. Two years of one on one training with Cinder _really had_ improved Flora's combat skills (even if they couldn't go too hard at it inside the house, or in Mantle as a whole; only driving out into the tundra had let them really let loose with each other, much to Bae and Maggy's delight at the spectacle of magic and dust).

"So...can I go now?" Aisha said meekly. "I don't think I really have anything more I can tell you."

Flora darted forward and socked Aisha in the face, eliciting a shriek and more copious blood flow.

"Flora, I don't think she needed that," Cinder said, shock bursting in her - and a strange feeling in her stomach.

" _I did!_ " Flora said harshly. "This was supposed to be some nice vacation, just the two of us, but instead here we are, fighting for our lives again! I'm sick of it, I thought we were done with that bullshit! Two years done with it! And what if these people want to try going for Bae or Maggy next?! Our family, our kids - it was supposed to be safe now! But it's not! It's sick, and I'm sick of it, and it's- it's-" Flora began to draw in shaky, shallow breaths. Her body shivered, her hands clenched and unclenched at her sides.

"Okay, okay, Flora - calm down, please! Calm down - sweetie," Cinder said, grabbing Flora by her shoulders and pulling her close. "You're okay, we're okay - we're all going to be okay. Bae and Maggy will be perfectly okay! They have the best protection anyone could ask for, and they're nowhere near here. And if we can believe Aisha here, this wasn't even about them, or you - just me. My family name, my mother - I presume?" Cinder shot a hard look at Aisha.

"I have no idea!" Aisha exclaimed, shaking her head furiously. "I didn't mean to hurt anyone - I definitely wouldn't go after anyone's family! I was just trying to get paid, get my life in order! I didn't know you were the Maiden, I didn't know you were even-"

Cinder twitched a finger, and ice formed over the woman's mouth, silencing her. She pulled Flora into a tight hug, feeling every tremble that rippled through her slender form.

Out corner of her eye, she saw the dark shadows on the alley wall beginning to shimmer, to ripple and sway...

And then they bent out away from the wall, becoming three-dimensional strands, which immediately surged out for Cinder and Flora!

Cinder twisted around with Flora, putting her back to the shadowy tendrils, and pulled up a rocky barrier.

There was a shrill hissing noise as those tendrils made contact with the rock, indistinct whispers echoing up and down the alley...

And then there were more shadowy tendrils emerging from nearby - from Cinder's own shadow cast onto the alley floor!

Reaching and twisting up for them, around them.

Cinder immediately exploded Maiden flames, soaring up out of the alley entirely - Flora's arms around her neck for dear life.

_For dear life._

_Again._

Flora was right; Cinder was sick of it, too.


	3. Jumping At Shadows, From Shadows

Cinder flew in through their hotel room window with Flora, setting her down on the bed and immediately moving to pack their things away.

"Do you think that was her Semblance?"

"No," Cinder replied, tossing handfuls of clothing into a suitcase.

"Well, then, do you think it was Salem? Or some kind of grimm?"

"I'm not sure!"

"Cinder, you're shaking."

"I know."

"It- it was just some spooky shadows. Big deal - right? Or, is it something we should be _seriously_ worried about?"

"I don't know! Would you just shut up and actually help me pack so we can go home already!" Cinder snarled.

Silence.

Cinder turned, sighing as her old companions, guilt and remorse rose in her anew. "I'm sorry. That was- really out of line."

"It really was - and I don't appreciate it." Flora hopped off the bed, coming over to her and starting to sweep things off the dresser and into the suitcase. Her face was a deep frown. "Something about all of this has you really rattled; did that woman threaten Bae and Maggy before I caught up to you, or...? Were those shadows something or someone from your past? I just want you to talk to me, please. What are you feeling, why are you so...so- about this."

"I don't know," Cinder muttered. But, no, she did know, she thought. But she didn't exactly know how to voice it. She'd try anyways. "I...it is Bae and Maggy, I guess. It's- if either of us die, or get hurt so badly, or- taken away...they'll be left on their own. And- and they'll have to grow up the rest of their lives with this- with this- the same...Bae's father all over again, or- or Jenna, for me, except worse. And that's- I can't stand the thought of that!"

"I feel the same way. You think I don't?"

"N-no, I- of course you do. I- I _am_ sorry, I shouldn't have snapped at you like that, I shouldn't be so wound up anyways, I just- I hate-"

"No power or control, huh?" Flora said bluntly - flatly.

Cinder laughed, an ugly sound wrenched from depths of her soul. "Yes. That's exactly right. That whole rug was just...pulled out from under me _again_ in my life, and I suppose I'm not taking that all too well. Again."

"For someone who's so great at rolling with a punch, you still aren't too great at doing it for emotional punches," Flora agreed. "I get that, Cinder. So, I forgive you for snapping; we're both high strung right now."

A tightness constricted Cinder's throat, and a stinging threatened in her eye. "I- I r-really am _sorry_ , I didn't-"

"I know. I believe you - you're forgiven already. It's alright! Let's just focus on getting home now."

"Okay..."

_Those whispers...like thousands of people all talking together, over each other, a great cacophony...risen, and then silenced in an instant..._

Thousands of people in that one alley, thousands of people all focused on one person: _Cinder._

Pressing around her, reaching for her, _yearning for her..._

"Cinder Aryle - to lay eyes on you at last, after decades you've been missed...though not _forgotten_."

Cinder turned, shoving Flora behind her and flaring her Maiden eyes as a man stepped out from literal shadows on the wall; at first he was but a wispy imitation of a human being's skeletal structure, cloaked in darkness, but then he solidified and became reality.

Tall, older, a long beard of auburn, and eyes a rich brown. Covered in plenty of scars, all right. So then, Aisha had told the truth about _that_.

"You were never forgotten," the man spoke again, his gaze boring into Cinder like claws of a Nevermore, desperate to grab, to tear into...

"How _comforting_ ," Cinder said, with strained sarcasm.

"Yes, you've had a lack of comfort in your life - your mother's doing. When that woman cast you out of her home and life, when she should have kept you in it, treated you with all the love and care a girl like you deserved..."

Cinder splayed the claws of her grimm arm at her side. "Did you know her?"

"I _know her_ quite well," the man replied, nodding. "Back then, she was young and confused - and afraid of all that she did not understand. That is what led her to treat such a special girl like you as if you were yesterday's garbage. But you were never...and you are still not."

"Tell me what those shadows were! How did you do that? Your Semblance, or is it something to do with the grimm?"

The man _laughed_ , hearty and loud. "You poor thing; your mind is so limited. Trapped by what you _know_ \- but what of what you don't? The creatures of grimm? Semblances? Hardly. The Order is beyond such trivialities of this world. And you could have been, too, had your mother not done what she did to you - it was an absolute _crime_! One the Order was not pleased about."

"The Order? The Order of _what_?" Cinder snapped, taking a step forward and raising her chin high. "I'm not one for flowery talk - try being specific and we might get somewhere."

The man smiled widely, like he was indulging a child. "The Order of Keshiri," he said, slow and clear.

"Never heard of it," Cinder snorted.

"No, no, you wouldn't have - nor would most anyone these days. It is a centuries old organization, which operates in utmost secrecy to reach its goal."

"What _is_ its goal?" asked Cinder. She would go and burn it all to the ground so she could go home again, in peace and quiet - and _safety_.

"Though you were _intended to be_ a member of the Order from very birth, the fact is that you are not; that information is not available to outsiders. But, if you were to be sworn in at long last...you could learn all you ever wanted. I could even take you right to your mother, to meet her; she's matured over the last few decades, and had a change in perspective - she'd be happy to see you again, as well as to apologize for her treatment of you all those years ago. It was a horrible mistake, one she now fully recognizes that she made..."

"Cinder - can we just jump out the window?" Flora spoke quietly - _urgently_. "Can we jump out and go _home_ already?"

"Your home is with the Order - and your mother," the man spoke, just as quiet. "It was the life you were meant to have - the life you were _born_ to have."

Those whispers were back, all of them, background noise in constant, rising in volume, intensity, all around Cinder...as the floor, the ceiling, the walls all became enveloped in writhing shadows...

Cinder considered, in moment of frozen time. "Yes." She snatched up her bag of essentials and money, grabbed Flora's arm, and leaped out the window for the second time that night.

* * *

"Your bounty has gotten away - you'd best catch up to her if you intend on collecting anything at all."

Aisha froze from her place beneath the outside of the window sill. She vaulted up into the room, landing soft on her feet.

She pushed her braids out of her face and met the man's eyes. "With what I just saw you do, you could have probably caught her yourself. Why didn't you tell me she was the Fall Maiden?!"

The man gave a small smile, amusement dancing in his eyes. "A billion lien, and you couldn't figure it out that your quarry was someone very, very special?"

"I knew it had to be _someone_ important - but a Maiden? That never crossed my mind. And now it's never going to again; I quit. I'm never going to actually succeed, not with her." Aisha narrowed her eyes and set a hand on hilt of her weapon. "I bet you don't even _have_ a billion lien for me. I bet...it was all just some big setup. A scam. Nobody just _has_ that kind of money laying around - not even to pay a bounty hunter with. Why even would you? You could have bought a literal army instead to go after her for you!"

The man just watched her, patient. "You need an incentive, then. Proof of payment - allow me to put your doubts to rest."

The shadows on the floor at Aisha's feet rippled, and a large briefcase emerged up out of it.

Aisha stepped back, gripping her weapon a bit tighter.

The man dipped his head, indicating. That smile still fixed there.

Aisha stooped to retrieve the briefcase, opening it up with easy flick of the latch. She stared at its contents.

"A little over three hundred million," said the man, quite casually. "You will get the remainder of the payment _if_ you can retrieve Cinder Aryle, and bring her to me at the agreed upon location. I hope this is sufficient enough motivation?"

"Well shit, Aisha The Swift is still on the job!" she exclaimed, clutching the briefcase in a deathgrip to her chest.

"I knew I could count on you for this; I saw your potential the moment we met - and I'm sure that that potential will carry you far in this world. And sooner rather than later, you'll have built up quite the reputation for yourself among the hunters."

"You bet!"

* * *

"My money is gone! All of it is _gone_!"

"Did it fall out during the flight?"

Cinder reigned in a deep growl, breathing hard. "I don't _think so_."

"Well, then either that Aisha woman stole it, or that culty Order man - either way, somebody did some kind of sleight of hand on us and stole it all."

Cinder slammed a fist into the nearest wall, punching a hole through concrete. "Then we aren't going home, are we?"

"Can't you fly us there?"

"Can I fly across the entire _ocean_?" Cinder let out a laugh. Shrill to her own ears. "No, no I can't. Maiden magic might be infinite, but my own stamina isn't; I'd be exhausted long before we got there, and then all we'd be is lost in the middle of the ocean."

"Well then..." Flora struggled for calm, herself - Cinder could tell. And it didn't help. "What if we contacted someone who could help us? Qrow Branwen and the others from before? Or what about Mercury - the last we heard from him, he _was_ here on _this_ continent, wasn't he? Or, how about that Hazel fellow? We aren't totally alone and lost, Cinder; we have plenty of people who can help us if we just try!"

Cinder calmed somewhat. "R-right...we have...people to help us. I'm still not...used to that being a thing."

Flora gave an encouraging nod. "Well, it's a thing; we could even try getting in touch with Qrow's sister - doesn't she have that portal Semblance? If we asked politely, I'd bet she would help us."

"I wouldn't - and, her Semblance doesn't work like that," Cinder said flatly. "It only opens portals to people she's bonded with; and she hasn't bonded with anyone currently in Atlas."

"Well, anyone else, then," Flora insisted. "Let's call around and see who can help. Come on, let's sit down - right here - and start making some calls. We need to call Neo and Emerald anyways, and let them know to be on high alert. _The highest alert_. And your mother, when she gets there!"

"Right. Okay." Cinder slid down the wall, taking out her scroll and blowing a breath. An irritated hand pulled strands of hair out of her mouth (why again had she made the decision to let it grow out these past two years?). She entered the first number that came to her mind. The one she really wanted to call _last_ \- just to get it over with.

It rang once, and picked up.

"Cinder? What's going on? It's been...it's been a while."

"Qrow," she said evenly, praying for patience she definitely didn't have right then. "There are some life-threatening things going on right now, and I need- help. Can you?"

"Figured!" A low chuckle came over the line. "Knew you wouldn't have called me up just for a nice chat after over a year and a half of no contact."

"Can you. Help. Us?"

"Almost forgot how wonderful that voice of yours was..."

"Qrow, for fuck's sake, we're stranded without lien on Sanus, and there are people literally trying to kidnap me! Very dangerous people! If you're going to be a useless jackass, then I'm going to hang up and try-"

"Hey, alright, I'm sorry! Seriously - I'm serious now. I didn't realize it was _that bad_. My bad: what do you need?"

"We need either lien for transport back to Atlas, or a transport back to Atlas," Cinder said steadily. "As soon as possible. The people who came after us - not even _an hour ago_ \- might try going after Bae and Maggy next. We don't exactly know. But we obviously don't want to take any chances."

"We just want to get home," Flora said softly. "Please."

Qrow sighed. "Yeah, yeah...I...look, I might be able to scrounge up some spare lien. But not nearly enough for a flight to Atlas - I'm sorry."

"Where are you now?" Cinder asked, ignoring the disappointment inside her. Had she really been _hopeful_ of getting help from this man?

"Vale," Qrow said.

"That's only a few hours from Valleth," Cinder said slowly. "Could you...could you come and meet us here? If we can't get back to Atlas, then we could at least use another fighter around."

"Yeah, why the hell not? I don't have anything better to do."

"Thank you," Cinder said, sincere. She paused. "Have you ever heard of the Order of Keshiri?"

"Nope," Qrow said instantly. "Those the guys who came after you?"

"Yes."

"I'll look into it and head on over to you."

"Thanks," Flora whispered. "We really appreciate this."

"No problem - just glad I can help."

Cinder ended the call, and immediately typed in another number.

_Now to see who else can help._

* * *

Blake Belladonna leapt from tree to tree, silent and quick, her eyes on her roaming target below.

The White Fang might have been disbanded, but there were still plenty of former members around who were intent on bringing it back - some of them the more _extreme_ members of the organization. Or those who just wanted revenge for it.

And then there were just faunus who thought the White Fang had had the right idea, and wanted to see it return so it could continue to fight for them.

Thus, the White Fang's specter continued to linger in the world, refusing to fully die.

Blake was intent on finally killing it.

But, more importantly, she was set on righting its past wrongs - and her own, from her time as a member.

One such _wrong_ was right beneath her.

Blake had been tracking Rosha Cardonis for weeks, which had led her to discover who _Rosha_ was tracking down: the family of a woman (and the woman herself) who had worked in an Atlas exported mecha factory in southern Sanus, which Blake and Rosha had both once attacked - ruined the factory's production lines, and regrettably also...caused some injuries and frights to the workers there that night. This human woman was one of them; she'd had a large metal mecha skeleton fall on her, and as a civilian with no Aura, she had suffered permanent damages. Crippling damages. A crushed leg and an arm, among other injuries that had led to her being unable to continue working there. Nowadays, this woman was making her way in life as a package delivery driver.

Her name was Kinsley Zahr.

Blake had committed the name to memory.

Cinder Rynon, after all, had been able to name all of her victims; Blake had to be able to say the same.

Rosha had never been an extremist - not like Adam. He didn't revel in kills, in making humans suffer and "pay." He'd never been that way! He'd been angry, yes, frustrated, upset...but never so terribly lost in it all that he became a murderer.

But, with the White Fang gone, and him now evidently tracking down a former victim of one of their missions...

It seemed likely he was about to become a killer - become lost to those feelings. Lost like Adam, lost like Ilia nearly had been, too.

It happened so fast, Blake barely even registered it.

One moment that truck was moving along the road, and the next, Rosha's blade had sliced out with purple energy, blowing up a tire and causing it to screech to a halt - barely missing a tree.

Blake leapt down immediately, drawing her blade as Rosha advanced on the woman who had just gotten out of the truck's cabin.

A woman with cybernetic arm and leg both.

"Blake?" Rosha said, staring.

"Rosha."

Kinsley looked at them both a moment, afraid - then her eyes went wide with recognition. And _horror_.

"You were the ones from the f-factory - that night, it was...it was you!"

Rosha grinned. "It was us."

"Y-yes, it _was_ \- but I'm a Huntress now," Blake spoke firmly. "I'm trying to make up for all of that. Please, Ms. Zahr, if you'd let me get you to safety, I can-"

"I'm not trusting either of you lying faunus!" Kinsley yelled, stumbling back on a mechanical leg - one that didn't look too high quality at all. Nothing like Mercury Black's - or Yang's arm - Blake reflected. She whipped out a Dust pistol from behind her back, pointing it at Blake, then Rosha - then back at Blake. Frantic.

"Please," Blake tried again, digging for her scroll to show off her Huntress license. "I really do just want to help!"

"Do you even _know what you did to me that night?!_ " the woman screamed, spitting at Blake. "Not just what you _see_ \- but in _here_." Her flesh and blood fingers came to press against her stomach violently. "Do you know how many surgeries I had to go through after that? Do you know that I am _never_ _going to be able to have children_?! You took that from me forever, you did that to me! You stupid disgusting _animals_!"

_Not just what you see, but in here..._

Blake's shoulders fell, recalling similar words spoken by Cinder Rynon. Yes, the worst injuries...were always on the inside. Unseen. Unnoticed. The true extent of damage...it wasn't something you just glanced at like an arm or a leg. Or...a brand on a face and a burned out eye.

"Fair is fair," Rosha hissed, quivering, lip curling. "You humans take our children, we take yours!"

"Please- nobody has to get hurt here," Blake said desperately. "Rosha, just _go_. You don't have to do this!"

Rosha was ignoring Blake entirely - his attentions solely on Kinsley. "Did you know that _I_ was taken away from my parents at age three? Did you know I was put into a human-run _school_ , meant to help _disgusting faunus like me_ to become _civilized? Educated? All proper and nice, like you humans always are?_ They taught me every single day to forget everything to do with _faunus_ , and instead to learn everything I could that was _human_! That _faunus history, faunus art, faunus life_...was _worthless_! They made me _hate everything about myself, about my own kind - my own parents!_ Until the White Fang came and took the place over, took us all away from it. And the worst part is that _I_ _didn't even want to go with them at first!_ _It worked!_ "

"Nobody's done things like that to your people since before the Great War; you're not even old enough for that," Kinsley laughed, derisive. "Excuse me if I don't believe outright _lies_."

" _Lies?!_ Do you think every single place like that just shut down simultaneously after the Great War was won?!" Rosha screamed. "That, what, laws just popped up into being all over the world, all exactly at the same time?!" He breathed harsh, trying to maintain what little control he even had over himself. "Do you want to know what _else_ worked on me?" he pressed, taking a step forward now. His weapon drawing free of its sheath. "I guess there _is_ one thing we have in common: the first thing those humans did to any of us when we got there was to take us down to the basement, put us in a big, bright room, dose us up with medicines, and _mutilate us until we were completely sterilized! A three year old boy - but a faunus, so apparently, that's totally fine!_ No laws against that, not in the area the school was set up in - not even twenty years ago. So, sorry if I don't feel too bad about the fact that I only _accidentally_ did the same to _one_ of your kind."

"You really have to reach that far to justify what you did to me?"

"It's you humans who should be justifying yourselves to _me_!"

" _Enough, for god's sake, this isn't the Injuries Olympics!_ " Blake faltered as two pairs of eyes turned on her. Yang really was rubbing off on her, she thought. "Listen to me: Rosha, get out of here. Kinsley, get out of here too! Just stop it already; nobody has to get hurt today!"

Kinsley's dust firearm quavered, aimed at Rosha's chest. "I could kill you right now and nobody would give a damn!"

"That's the _problem!_ "

Kinsley pulled the trigger on her dust sidearm in the same moment that Rosha lunged.

Rosha took the shot on his Aura and flipped forward, sailing high and coming down slashing for Kinsley.

Blake Shadow Cloned and put herself between Rosha and Kinsley, bringing up her sword to block Rosha's.

"Get the hell out of my way - or better yet, _help me kill her_!" Rosha snarled at her. "Do you _hear what she's even been calling us?!_ I know you feel the same way as I do, you have to - who wouldn't?! Why are you such a weak, selfish _coward_ , huh? Taking the easy way out, trying to be just like them - like them, against your own kind! You even defended the entirety of _Atlas_ from getting what they rightfully deserved! Why didn't you just stand back and let the grimm wipe them all out two years ago?!"

"Because I'm a good person."

" _You're good?_ You're as fucked up as I am, Blake; you're just really _good_ at hiding it."

"No, I'm-" Blake's scroll beeped, sudden and insistent.

"Is that a human?" Rosha said. "If it is, go ahead - take the call. I'll wait: I'll just be driving my blade through _this one's_ heart."

Blake shoved Rosha back and began a series of furious slashes, blitzing around him with Shadow Clones, and sending an Aura beam for his back that took him up and carried him into a tree. She squared herself, drawing out her second blade, eyes fixed to Rosha as his Aura flickered and he righted himself.

Rosha's eyes widened, his gaze sliding past her. "Blake-!"

Blake's Aura was rocked as a Dust round slammed into her back. She stumbled forward, gasping.

"Both of you get the hell away from me!"

Blake whirled, biting back frustration. "I told you I'm a Huntress! I'm only here to protect you!"

"I don't need protection, not by one of you!"

A flash of movement from the side of her eye; Blake intercepted Rosha again, this time barely in time before he got within five feet of Kinsley!

"You heard her: she doesn't want your help. So just stand aside already and let me do this!"

"I can't do that, Rosha!"

" _Why?!_ " Rosha's lips trembled. Green eyes shimmered. "Why do these humans get their nice homes, their little families, and I get _none of it_?! Because they took it all from me, they took it away before I even got the _chance_ -"

"I'm giving you a chance right now!" Blake said firmly. "I'm giving you the chance to walk away, to stop this! You can't change what happened, and I am _sorry_ , but this isn't right! This isn't going to make things better! But do you know what might? If you take back from them what they took in the first place! You want that nice house? You want that family? Then you can still go and do that! You don't have to waste your life running around like this, fighting for an organization that's _already dead_! You can still have everything you wanted, you can still have it all, I promise you - you just have to let go, put your blade down!"

"I just... _hate them_... _so much, all the time!_ " he said, voice breaking.

"I know, okay? I know! But feeding that hate like this isn't going to do you any good - it'll just end up destroying you inside! And ruining your entire life! This chance that _you still have_! Please don't throw it away like this. If you really want it, don't do away with it so easily - over a human life."

Rosha gritted his teeth as tears fell. "They stole it from me before I even _knew what it meant_ , Blake..." His voice was high, wavering. Pain untold. What you never just saw at a glance.

"I know. I _know_."

"Then you know they took that chance from me when I was a toddler. _I never had it_!" He burst with his Aura and gave his blade a slash, sending Blake back to hit the side of the truck. He darted for Kinsley, blade raised, shimmering with a sudden, intense purple energy. She fired, but the shot went wide - and then Rosha was on her. Slicing down across her torso, from left shoulder to right hip. Blood spilled, that energy burst from her wound, and she collapsed.

Rosha stood quivering, gazing down at Kinsley as she gasped and clutched at herself desperately. As she went still within mere moments.

Blake stood slowly, a great weight in her chest. Rosha turned to her, face streaked with those tears. "Do you feel any better now?" she said flatly.

He looked down at Kinsley, looked at his shaking blade stained with dripping red. Back to her. "I...I..."

"Rosha...just drop it, and get down on your knees. I'm putting you under arrest. Please."

"I just...I didn't..."

Blake shook her head. "That chance I said you still had? You just lost it. And you did that yourself. And...I'm sorry. Put. It. Down."

The blade dropped, and Rosha followed suit.

Blake strode up behind him, pulling the forcefield cuffs from her waist. She grabbed his wrists and locked them in together behind his back. She let a heavy sigh go as she pulled him up. His head was down, his eyes were still fixed on Kinsley. He hadn't once looked away from her.

Blake took out her scroll, ignoring the missed call for the moment; she called the number given to her by local authorities. "Carris Station, this is Huntress Belladonna - requesting transport. There's been a murder along route thirty-six; I have the suspect in custody."

"Affirmative, Huntress - transport truck and security team will be en route to your location, ETA ten minutes."

"Affirmative - thank you. Huntress Belladonna, out."

Blake tugged on Rosha's binds, gesturing to the other side of the road. "Let's go. We might as well sit down for this."

Rosha just nodded, complying without a word or resistance.

And they sat in the grass.

Blake finally checked her missed call: Cinder Rynon.

 _What happened?_ she thought. She had kept in touch with the woman over the last two years, far more so than anyone else in her immediate circle - and had even gone to Mantle for several visits, every couple of months - but the last she'd heard from them, a mere three days ago, Cinder and Flora had been preparing to go off on their journey to find out more about Cinder's past. Her birth family. Blake had made a promise she probably shouldn't have, that she might fly over to Atlas and stop by to see Maggy and Bae during the next couple of weeks. But this call couldn't be about that, could it? If there was a problem, Neo and Emerald should already be there. They wouldn't need to call up Blake to go take a flight across continents to help out with whatever it was.

Pushing all her speculations aside, Blake called Cinder back.

Brought her scroll to her ear.

"Hello? Cinder? Is everything okay?"

"No - where are you?"

Blake was thrown. Cinder sounded... "I- I'm just outside of Carris, it's a small town in southern Sanus. Near Kempalla."

"We're in Valleth right now. You're around four hours from us."

"I- yes, I guess I am. Did something happen?"

"Can you come to us? Please?"

 _Please_. Since when did Cinder say _please_? Even recently? Usually only when things were serious; she was still quite terrible with conscious shows of compassion or consideration.

"I...five hours - maybe six. I can be there. But I need to take care of something first."

"Thank you!" Cinder breathed relief.

 _Definitely_ _something happened. Something awful._

"I have to go - I'm sorry - I'm in a dangerous situation right now."

"So are we," Cinder snorted.

"Y-yes, well, I still need to go," Blake said studiously. Cinder could be abrasive at the best of times. And the worst. "I'll be there soon. Just - stay safe?"

"Thanks," came the voice of Flora, gentle and true. But still quite strained, for her, Blake noted.

Blake hung up and put her scroll back, turning her focus to Rosha fully again.

She didn't think she needed to have bothered; Rosha was slumped, silent, and unmoving as ever.

Plain resignation or true remorse?

Blake knew which one she _hoped_ it was.


	4. Meetings

_A dark room, lit with lamps and candles. A symbol on the wall; a circle encompassing two curved lines facing inward, and six dots arranged near the bottom of the circle beneath those lines..._

_Two figures alone in the room, cast with orange glow and together in warmth._

_Tyra was pulling Cinder into her arms, she was holding her close. "All those years ago, I made a mistake. I was acting...on information that wasn't whole. All I saw was all the worst things about you - but I never saw your best. I never really saw...just how special, how wonderful, how beautiful you are. I never should have sent you away. I should have kept you, I should have tried harder. I know I can never make that right with you - I was scared, and I panicked, and I can't defend myself on it - but if you give me a chance, I want to show you I can still give you all that love you deserved from me...I want to have the chance to still be in your life somehow..."_

_"Are you going to t-throw me away again when you see something_ bad _again?"_

_"Are you planning on doing something bad again?"_

_"N-no, no, I- I'm done fighting, I'm done running. I just...I just want to be here with you."_

Tyra Aryle came back to the present with a start. Awareness sharpened.

Lamps lit around her. The engraving in the stone wall, the insignia - a circle, two curved lines, and six dots beneath them.

The whispers were already there, all around her. Excitement, expectation. And in her mind were all those _presences_ , swarming and pressing, all eager to sample what new information had joined the pool to make a ripple.

Shadows cast by flickering candles themselves flickered; the mesmerizing face emerged from the wall, those eyes locking onto Tyra.

She beamed widely, rising to her feet. "She's still going to be here with me!"

**We see that; we are satisfied. We hope that you are, as well.**

"I'm only happy I'm able to do what you ask," Tyra assured. "I just want to keep _you_ happy."

**You are; and you will continue to.**

It wasn't a question, but Tyra felt the need to answer anyways. "Of course I will! I'm so grateful that you're going to let me see her soon...before we...thank you. She doesn't understand yet - but I'll be so glad to see her anyways. She deserves...at least once, I need to tell her - and, afterward, she'll be so...we're going to be so _close_! Just like this, and it will be so wonderful!"

**There is no need to thank us - the Order satisfies its own. We'll speak again soon. We hope that it will be _truly_ face to face; we draw so close now to our return. Your daughter only needs...incentive, to walk toward that which you see for her. We will give her as many incentives as it takes.**

* * *

Neo checked in on Maggy in her little bed, kissing her on the head and giving her hair a stroke.

She sighed, smiling to herself. If only she could have this for herself - full time! Since starting these visits, she'd begun to miss her own baby. Begun to miss her brief little period of domestic teenaged bliss more than ever. But that wasn't for her; it couldn't be for her. If there was even a tiny chance! Even this was terrifying her inside; she'd wanted to refuse Cinder's request outright.

At least she had plenty of reasons to keep herself apart - and ways to keep occupied!

Neo quickly fled the child's bedroom and made her way to the back of the house, and stepped outside.

Into a nice little area shielded by high stone walls.

She hopped and skipped her way over to the bubbling hot tub, and joined Emerald there after a quick strip down; she settled in with her hands behind her head, flashing a smile at Emerald.

"This is why I like coming here," Emerald sighed, tilting her head back. She had a smile of her own.

Neo nodded, letting out a contented sigh of her own. No need to worry, way out here now, whether or not a hand might twitch, time might just vanish for her and she'd come back to herself to see...

There were several doors between her and those girls now.

The only one who she might hurt was Emerald - and Emerald was the Winter Maiden, and could definitely handle herself.

If she even _felt_ a little stirring, Neo would just ask Emerald to flash-freeze her on the spot with that Maiden magic of hers!

Minutes of pleasant silence passed the pair by.

Until Emerald stood, stretching high and yawning. "I'm going to take a nap - babysitting is exhausting work," she murmured casually.

Neo gave an absent little wave, glancing at the woman - and she did a double take. Her lips parted. She blinked rapidly. _Oh._

"Please don't tell Cinder."

Neo nodded enthusiastically, pulling a wide smile. She offered a thumbs up. It wasn't like _she_ cared at all - and she was pretty sure Cinder wouldn't, either. But, either way, it was Emerald's secret to keep. And now, Neo's to respect.

Relief broke over Emerald's face. "Thanks." She turned away and climbed out of the tub, dressing herself and then disappearing into the house with quick footsteps.

Neo sank down into the waters and settled again. She took no notice of the way her own shadow on the stone wall shifted without movement from her.

Her scroll beeped at her from the side of the tub.

She sighed and sat up again, taking it in lazy hand.

She became much more alert when she saw who had sent her a text message - Cinder!

Neo opened up the message and scanned it over quickly.

She jumped out of the tub and got dressed, hurrying inside the house with scroll clutched tight in hand.

* * *

"We are _not_ sleeping in a _shelter,_ " Cinder hissed. "We just called _plenty_ of people, we can call someone _again_ for a place to stay!"

"We're not sleeping _on the ground_ because _you_ have ego problems!" Flora retorted firmly. "Who are we going to call within walking distance for a night on the couch? Look, it's right there for us, so just humble yourself. You've done it before when it was necessary! Why is this so different?"

"I _humbled myself_ when I had no other choice - and for very important reasons," Cinder replied, face hot. "And I didn't _enjoy it_ when I did. _And_ I told myself I wasn't going to do it again in life!"

"What's the difference between staying in a shelter for a night, and staying with Lisari and Jenna when you were a kid?" Flora questioned.

"That was- I was a _kid_ , and I was- they were-"

"It's not humiliation, or- or weak, or whatever you think it is to just throw up your hands and get help however you can sometimes!"

"Help from- from _people_ , from _friends_ , not- not from-"

"Oh, so is that it?" Flora said, quite reasonable. "It's like your issues with Huntresses and Huntsmen. It's about _society_ , about _government_ \- about _authority_? You don't want to accept any help from that because it's like admitting that it was never there to swoop in and save you as a little girl?"

"Can we _not_ have an impromptu therapy session on the streets!" Cinder gritted, throwing up her hands and whirling away. " _It is_ fucking humiliating to have all my problems yelled out to all of Valleth!"

"Well, either we discuss this _out here_ , because _you_ want us to _sleep out here_ , or we go in there and at least get a private room," Flora said fiercely. "It's just for a couple of hours - it's almost morning light anyways - and then we can move on! No one ever has to know! Come on, Cinder - please, I promise you I won't think you're pathetic or something for it! I'll be doing it, too!"

"I just- I've never- _do we seriously have to?!_ "

Flora took calming breaths and came to set a hand on Cinder's arm. "Look, no matter what you decide you're doing, I'm going in there for a nice, soft bed and a few more hours of napping until our friends get here. If you can stand to join me...just try to think of it as another hotel."

"No you're-"

 _"Excuse_ _me?_ " Flora pulled her hand away and shoved her face in Cinder's, fury etched in every pretty line. "Were you just about to say, _No you're not_ to me? And _there_ are the control issues again; I guess we know we still have a lot to work on when we get back to Atlas - our therapist is going to love hearing about this one."

"I- I'm _sorry!_ " Cinder looked down, clutching her arm. A breath hitched. "I j-just- I _can't_ \- why..."

Flora sighed, stepping back. "Because beds are nicer than concrete. It's that simple." She turned away, toward the building - but didn't set off for it.

A lengthy silence came between them.

Cinder filled it with hated sniffling. Why the hell did they have to do this? Why the hell had _she_ done that to Flora? She didn't want to be that way, she didn't want to- she loved her, she...but even now, it was the way she was. She was just a bit better about hiding it these days; but would it ever really go away? Cinder needed it to - she couldn't keep being that way toward Flora. Flora didn't deserve it, it wasn't right, it wasn't...god, Cinder hated herself...

Suddenly Flora was whipping back around for her, a grin fixed to her face and a light in her eyes.

"I've got it; just, oh, think of it like you're sticking it to them by taking advantage of their moronic, open hospitality!" Flora exclaimed. Then, she continued on, adopting an unheard of sultry voice. Low, husky - _alluring_. "Stupid kingdoms and their stupid shelters - ripe for the taking! Call it- infiltration! Right? _The pack of fools! Muhahahaha!_ " Flora swept an arm out theatrically, pointing at the shelter. "If all those _idiots_ want to leave what they've got wide open, then we'll waltz right in and take it for ourselves! Claim it as ours without hesitation! Because it's their own damn fault for being _so damn stupid!_ They might not have helped us before, or be willing to help us today, so by all _gods_ we're going to walk in and help ourselves to all that they have! Neo style; anything that's not bolted down, we're snatching up for our own ends! And nobody is even going to realize we took it! Because they are just _so stupid_! What _fools_!"

Cinder stared, wide eyed. "Is t-that...what you think _I_ sound like...?"

Flora put hands on hips, cocking her head and twisting her lips into an outright _smirk_. Or, something resembling one. It looked quite out of place there on her face, either way. "Oh, _sweetie_ , I _think_ you shouldn't be wasting your time questioning me when you should just be _obeying me_! The Kingdom of Vale is in for a _rude awakening_ once it realizes we passed our way through it! I mean, really...do these cultist morons and low rent bounty hunters _really_ think they can bring down the Fall Maiden - and partner? Do they think that stolen lien is enough to drive us to our knees? _Hah_ , it's just so _laughable_! We'll turn the tables on them, as only we can do, and then we'll burn them to ashes and walk our sexy asses home with a swing in the hips! Because _damn_ do we look fine when we do that!"

"Okay, okay - alright, I'll go in there with you! Just, _please god_ , stop it! It's a terrible impression! _I do not sound like that!_ "

Flora gazed at her sidelong, raising a hand to flourish. "But you _do_ , babe..."

"Alright, I'm _going_ , I'm going!" Cinder threw up her hands and stalked for the building's entrance.

"Hah! Of course you bend to my will, honey, for it's the will of Flora the-"

"Stoooooop! I am _walking_ , see?"

Flora caught up to her and seized her arm, resting her head on her shoulder, smiling at her quite innocently. "I see that! I'm glad to see it."

"I'm glad you're back to being you again..."

"I don't know, I kind of liked being you. It was really confidence boosting! Is _that_ why you put that act on so often?"

"You know it is..." Cinder murmured, cheeks hot. "We've had enough therapy talks about _that_ part of my personality..."

"Well, I might just take that leaf out of your book again sometime - because that was _great_."

"Please don't; _you_ don't _need_ a coping mechanism like that in your life - not like me."

"Who says?" Flora pouted.

"The trained therapist we see every month?"

"Oh, fine. You do it better anyways. So effortless - even in battle!"

"Thanks..."

* * *

After a brief few hours of rest, Flora called to check in with Blake again - told her exactly where they were (to make Cinder squirm).

Cinder called home again for the third time in the last hour; Neo texted her back saying everything was as fine as ever in Mantle (but that Emerald hadn't left the girls' room for even a second). That was _almost_ good enough news to put her somewhat at ease.

The door to their tiny - absolutely _tiny_ \- room was knocked on, and then opened.

"Cinder? Flora? I'm-"

Cinder rose to her feet and summoned twin blades of glass - and then she let them dematerialize.

"S-sorry!" Blake said, flushing, hands raised as she came through the doorway. "Sorry."

"I didn't even hear you coming down that hall," Cinder muttered, falling back onto the bed.

"I try not to be - sorry. It's just habit." Blake's cheeks were pink as could be.

"At least the enemy won't hear you either," Flora said brightly, moving to hug Blake. "Thanks so much for coming. We really need the help."

"I'm glad to help," Blake assured. "Although, investigating an attempted kidnapping and a shadowy cult also sounds like just the job for a Huntress!"

"I'm not paying you for this," Cinder said instantly.

"And I don't expect you to!" Blake laughed, rolling her eyes. "I'm only saying that it's more than personal connection that has me interested in the situation - I have a general duty to society, as a Huntress, to investigate all of this!"

"So you do," Cinder murmured, rolling her eye right back. _Huntresses..._

Flora checked her scroll, gave a shake of her head. "Qrow still isn't going to be here for another hour."

"You asked Qrow for help?" Blake said, shocked.

"Is that a problem?" said Cinder.

"No, of course it's not. I'm just surprised you'd reach out to him, too. Considering..."

"Considering what?" Cinder pressed.

"Well - you two weren't exactly best friends, even after Atlas," Blake explained, shrugging.

"We aren't," Cinder agreed. "But, he's competent enough, and has unique skills that can help us right now. I can't afford not to use those."

Blake smiled. "Right - that makes sense."

"Yes." Cinder hesitated, then she moved forward to imitate Flora in hugging Blake - much to Blake's surprise. But, to her credit, the girl said nothing about it; she just looked rather pleased with life. Cinder drew away quick, gesturing at a chair in corner of the little room. "Well, since we're going to be waiting a while, why don't you tell us how you've been lately?"

Blake nodded and sat herself down. "I'd love to."

* * *

_Don't say a single word._

"It's a bit cramped in here."

Cinder glared murderously at Qrow Branwen.

"But hey, you make do with what you've got - I've holed up in worse places before," Qrow continued, shrugging.

"Have you found anything out about this Order?" Cinder snapped out.

Qrow shifted, ran a hand through his hair as he leaned against the wall. "Yeah. Yeah, I've found a couple of things out."

"Well?" Cinder said impatiently.

"Well...I found a nice, tight bundle of references in history books- to some 'Keshiri Plague' three hundred years back. Apparently, it was let loose on Remnant by the self proclaimed Order of Keshiri. But that's about all I found."

Cinder growled at him. "That's it?"

"Hey, I can't help it if history is vague as hell," Qrow replied, holding up his hands. "But you know what, I just might have a way you could get more specific details on that whole time period. If I'm not mistaken, we both know a guy who was alive three hundred years ago..."

"Ozpin. So he's reincarnated again?" Cinder said.

"Yeah - took a while, after...what happened to Oscar. Poor damn kid," Qrow sighed. "Ozpin was a mess over it - still is - but he's back, yeah. He got in touch with me months ago, and we've stayed in contact ever since."

"Where is he?" Cinder asked.

"Well..." Qrow pulled out his scroll, tapped at it with furrowed eyes; Cinder's gave a high trill in her pocket. "There you go: Oz's location, and I wired enough lien for public transport there and back. It's only a two hour trip. If you want to go interrogate the living hell out of him, be my guest; I'll stay here with Blake and look after your lady."

Cinder looked to Flora.

"Go," Flora said. "The more we know, the more we know what we're up against - I'll be fine with them."

"I'm- I'm sorry. I love you..."

"I know; it's just stress, and the fact that we have a lot to lose. But we're going to get through it. Together."

"Yes...alright, okay. I'll- I'll be back."

"I'll be waiting."

* * *

Cinder stepped off the transport truck and wandered the tiny village, in search of the one house she needed to find.

On western edge, she strode up to the door of one and gave a firm knock - it had to be the one.

The woman who opened the door shuffled back immediately, staring at her feet. "H...uhm...h-hi?"

"I'm here to speak with...Ozpin?" Cinder said awkwardly. Did she have the wrong place? No, Qrow's information had _said_ it was this village - this specific little cottage on the western edge!

"...y-yes...I'll...let him t-talk..."

The woman startled, and she straightened with eyes that briefly flared emerald.

"Ms. Rynon," she spoke, now with total confidence. Or- "It is a great surprise to see you again. But I'm pleased to see you looking so well after our fight for Atlas."

Cinder cocked her head. "I had no idea you could take over the bodies of women as well."

"I do not _take_ anyone over; the magic of the Gods merely selects a like-minded soul for me to be paired with. I have no control over the process - it can be women as much as men. Though, it rarely ever is, as a large part of being a similar soul includes the gender being the same as my own." She- he- Ozpin trailed off. "Though, I sorely wish I did have control; another child lost their life because of me."

"Are you planning on making _her_ lose her life too, then? Do you plan on coercing _her_ into going out to fight Salem too? Being your latest meat puppet? Just from those few seconds, I can tell that she won't be up to the task. She seems like an anxious wreck."

Ozpin looked away, sighing. "I...no, of course not. We're of the same mind on that front, Ms. Rynon. It is because of what happened to Oscar that I'm...inclined to do my best to let this woman live her life as it is. As she wishes. I wouldn't force her into anything. And, yes, you are right: Natalya is a very anxious and introverted sort. Not at all the type to become a fighter, even if I wanted her to try to be."

"Good. Now, are you going to invite me in?"

"Of course."

Ozpin stood aside; Cinder strode past him with her head high.

They sat together in a small, dirty, cluttered living room.

"It actually used to be much worse," Ozpin spoke, gesturing generally. "That is actually something I've been able to help her with since...getting here. Help she very much appreciates."

"I'm sure," Cinder retorted, mocking. It was a real treat to be able to let loose on someone like this, especially after recent events. And, well...she knew she'd never have gotten away with it with Salem...

Another sigh. "So then, what is it that brings you to me? I can only assume that Qrow was the one to inform you of my current...location?"

"Yes," Cinder said shortly. "Tell me, in the course of your very, very long life of body-snatching, have you ever heard of the Order of Keshiri?"

Ozpin's expression grew dark, and somber. He leaned forward, hands resting on his lap together quite naturally. "Unfortunately, yes - it is also a name I...hoped never to have brought to my attention again."

"Tell me what you know about them," she demanded.

"Of course," Ozpin said simply.

* * *

Blake's eye caught the motion.

The strange movement of shadows that shouldn't be moving at all.

She launched to her feet, drawing out her weapon in its gun form - aiming right at the wall, feeling a bit stupid about it (because what could you do to fight a shadow on the wall?). But she knew the description from Cinder and Flora, and so she knew some of what to expect out of it.

Qrow was up too, pulling out his new scythe in sword form; he put himself squarely between the shadowy wall and Flora.

"Hey, is this-?" Qrow started.

Flora gave a nod, face pale. "It's the same thing. Expect either tentacles, or someone to come stepping out of it to fight in person."

Qrow shook his head, gave a nervous chuckle. "Starting to think there's no end to how strange this world can get..."

"Focus!" Blake said sharply.

"Hey, I'm completely-"

The shadows burst out from the wall, and the room was filled with a multitude of harsh whispers.

Shadowy tendrils reached for them, unhesitating and incredibly fast.

Blake Shadow Cloned and dodged left, flipped off the wall to sail right. She backflipped with another Shadow Clone, slashing her weapon and blasting out an Aura beam.

The tendrils _were_ destroyed - they dissipated in smoke - but then they reformed and came right back for them.

Qrow twirled his blade and turned to Flora. He ran at her, snatched her up and leaped out the window, shattering it.

Blake twisted and rolled under a tendril, came up out of it and quickly followed after them.

As she did, she glimpsed a hulking monster with a long beard and a face full of scars beginning to emerge out of the shadowy wall.

_Oh, great. That looks like trouble._

* * *

Shrill screams rang out from the bedroom.

Neo jumped up from the couch, snatching up her umbrella and racing down the hallway.

Bae was hauling Maggy back down it Neo's way. Emerald was in front of them - had both her weapons in hand, guns aimed at some kind of terrifying monster.

It was some kind of twisted imitation of a woman, tall and burly, with horns and spikes all over, a whip-like tail ending in a stinger, massive claws of steel, and different kinds of eyes littering the face. The mouth was full of sharp teeth. There were giant mandibles attached to the jaws. The body was as dark as any other grimm, but none of the eyes were glowing red. They were mild blues, greens, and a few browns. Very human colors. The monster's hair was like steel wire, barbed and shimmering, strands screeching against each other with every motion of its head.

Neo dashed forward, pushing the girls behind her and pulling out the blade from her umbrella.

Emerald glanced back at them as she unloaded onto the monster with rapid Dust rounds. "You need to get them out of here - get them outside! I can take this thing!" Her eyes lit up with dark green flames. "Just keep them safe - Cinder's counting on us!"

Neo nodded, sheathed her blade and snatched up Maggy in one arm. She grabbed up Bae in the other and swiftly retreated back down the hall, making for the front door.

After making it out onto the streets with the children, she turned to watch as the light of magic and Dust flared out of the windows. As the sounds of battle raged.

And then the front of the house was exploding as Emerald came flying out of it, hitting hard and rolling across the street. It collapsed with a loud crashing sound; but that didn't stop the monster within. It emerged from the debris like it wasn't even bothered, shrugging stone and wood off like nothing.

The monster's gaze found Neo, and it gave a wide smile of sharp teeth. And then, it _spoke_ \- in a sweet, feminine voice. "We _see you now_ , Neopolitan - and we'd love to have you with us. We could do so much to help you, to heal you. We could give you a _voice_! You, and-"

Emerald pushed herself up and flashed out a hand; intense flames burst forth to shroud the monster.

The monster turned back for Emerald, seeming largely unaffected. It fell down on clawed hands and bounded for Emerald like a primate.

"Neo, _go_!" Emerald yelled, backflipping as the monster swung its lengthy claws for her flank. She coated her sickles in electricity and began to leap about the monster, slashing and scorching beneath the skin of every wound she made to it.

Neo turned to run, darting down a narrow alley. She couldn't do more than a Maiden could here, and Cinder would kill her if she _didn't_ run with her kids anyways!

* * *

"A little over three hundred years ago," Ozpin was saying, measured and quiet. "the Order of Keshiri used the Relic of Creation on themselves, in hopes of becoming more than human, than faunus, and even grimm. They, regrettably, became something like all three - and none of them. Veritable Chimeras. Yet also, something entirely _new_. Capable of still hiding behind human forms. They came to call themselves the Ascendants - a whole new species, as they believed of themselves. Their numbers were great, and spreading all the time. It was an epidemic, of sorts. Thousands of people were being...taken. Changed, by these- monsters, into still more of them. And not only physically; those who were taken had their minds warped, and...also linked with others like them. They all shared a psychic connection, it was learned. Allowing instant mental communication, and the ability to see and hear through each other's eyes and ears at any time."

"I believe that, at first, they may have had good intentions - to become so great and powerful that they could rid the world of the grimm, or to protect the people from them with ease of newfound power and strength - but, as these things often go...those noble intentions became corrupted by the godly powers they couldn't truly understand or control. In the end, I was forced to use the other Relics to seal them all away, somewhere they'd continue to exist yet be rendered harmless. Another dimension I created, much like I used the Relic of Creation to create the vaults that once stored the Relics themselves. In fact, it was the Order's very dimensional sealing away that inspired me to later _create_ the vaults and tie them to the Maidens in the first place - after all, it had worked so well the first time I tried it. You could call it a test run."

"That's all very interesting; but what matters to me is that certain people harassing me lately _claim_ to be modern members of that Order," Cinder responded. She hesitated. "Apparently, my birth mother is one of them."

"That's deeply troubling," Ozpin sighed. "While I did seal away the majority of their...ill-transformed members, there was still a certain minority of normal people belonging to the Order that remained within society - fringe, but remaining. They were fanatical, devoted, to that dream of ascension into something 'more.' And they remained well hidden. But without access to the Relic of Creation, and with no evidence of any further movement on their part, I assumed...I assumed that time had done its work, and they had merely fallen apart. Disbanded completely. The cause abandoned, and lost. But, evidently, that did not happen. If there remains a very real, acting membership of that Order in present times. And if they are in fact moving again...Tell me, if you would, everything that has happened lately."

Cinder obliged, recounting every detail she could.

Ozpin sat back at end of her tale, looking more worried than ever. "What you described, about the shadows becoming real, and this figure emerging out of them..." He sighed. "While I did seal away thousands of their numbers in another dimension, if even one of their Ascendants remained behind, the connection between them would act as a bridge between the two realms. It is through this bridge that they may reach out across the realms and observe the world. And even still, evidently, to some limited extent, interact with it. And," he concluded. "it would seem that their members that remained are even capable of utilizing this...bridge...to traverse the world instantaneously. A corridor between realms, exclusive to those of their _nature_. Highly fascinating."

"Could they try and go after the Staff of Creation again?" Cinder asked, pointedly ignoring everything Ozpin had just said.

"No," Ozpin said firmly. "While it is true that the Relic of Destruction could destroy the seal and set free their numbers, or the Relic of Creation could create a doorway to bypass the seal, or the Relic of Choice could be used to force me into undoing the seal for them that I myself placed...No. Even if they were to attempt to do so, they would not succeed this time. They have no way to access any of the Relics. Nor does anyone, now. The Relics have been relocated, hidden in a far different manner than before - I did realize, these past months now since my latest reincarnation, that what had held for this past century could not hold for _further centuries_ anymore. So I decided to do something quite differently this time, to keep them out of Salem's hands...or anyone else's. Qrow helped me with this."

"Okay..." Cinder said slowly. "So then what do they even _want_?"

"Well, from what you told me of your encounter with that particular Ascendant: _you_ ," Ozpin said simply.

"I-" Cinder froze as a great swelling of whispers filled the room - so numerous it was as if they were yelling.

Ozpin's expression changed - overcome with an emotion Cinder could not recall ever seeing on the immortal wizard's face (not even when she had killed him before): _fear_.

" _Get out of here, now!_ " he yelled, leading the way for the front door. He grabbed a familiar cane on the way out.

* * *

Neo skidded to a halt as flames roared overhead, and Emerald came down to land in front of her in the alley.

Relief flooded her at the sight of her friend!

"Is the monster gone now?" spoke Bae immediately, desperate eyes fixed on Emerald.

Emerald met Neo's gaze, shook her head. "Whoever these people are that are after Cinder, they're _very_ powerful - and _magical_. There's no other way to explain- that thing just kept... _reforming_ ; I hit it with everything I could think of, I even decapitated it and it just came back together again - _twice!_ "

"And it was incredibly painful - and _rude_."

Neo and Emerald turned as one, weapons drawn and ready; a woman came walking out of the alley wall, shimmering in shadows. She was tall and fit, with light blue eyes and an abundance of freckles. Long hair of golden hung in curls to frame her face, streaked with forest green highlights.

Neo glanced at Emerald; it was the same voice as the monster's, just not all raspy and garbled. It was clear and clean, light and friendly (if a bit disapproving at present).

The woman brought her hands together at her chest, her gaze squarely on Emerald. Almost looking...

"What?" Emerald spoke, lifting an eyebrow. "Are you waiting for an apology?"

"I'd like one, yes," the woman replied, frowning. "I only came here to give you all the most wonderous gift in the world: to help you, to heal you - no more sickness, no more dying! No more fear, no more arguments or misunderstandings, no more fighting!" Her light blue eyes fell on Bae. "And for you, and for the little cutie there too, you're going to get-"

 _"Don't talk to her!_ " Emerald spattered out a dozen Dust rounds into the woman's chest, sending her reeling.

The woman brought an arm over her chest, doubling over. Wisps of black smoke came from her wounds - before those wounds sealed before Neo's very eyes! She straightened, arm falling to her side again. "As I was saying, sweetheart, the Order is going to give you so many new friends. I've seen you at that school of yours - you don't have many. But we can change that! We have plenty of kids just like you with us, who'd love to talk and play with you-"

Emerald unloaded several bursts of Dust into the woman, stalking forward with jaw clenched. Once close enough, she lashed out with a roundhouse kick to slam the woman into the alley wall. She grabbed the woman's face and lit her palm up with flaring Maiden fires, scorching off flesh and muscle - bone deep! But with skin gone, Neo saw that her insides weren't quite normal; muscles were jet black, and as those went away, she saw her very skull was a glossy black, like it wasn't even bone, but something else.

Emerald dropped the woman without ceremony, standing over her with guns aimed at her smoking, exposed skull.

Neo watched muscles and skin regrow, forming over the skull like new in about a single second or two.

The woman pushed herself up onto her knees, gazing up at Emerald with outright offense now. "You're a very cruel young woman, little miss Sustrai."

"We don't need you giving the kid your psycho sales pitch," Emerald seethed. She put a gun's barrel directly against the woman's head.

"If you really want to talk about psychotic sales pitches," the woman began. "how about we talk about the one Cinder Aryle gave you? Or the one Salem gave you? _Those_ were psychotic - evil, monstrous - setting grimm on cities, attacking innocent schools! And you want to say we're psychotic? What are we doing, compared to what _you were doing?_ You were bringing down a nation, you were killing students, you were letting loose creatures of darkness on innocent people's homes! What are _we_ doing? Just giving people the chance to be better, stronger, healthier and happier, to have friends, to be closer to people than you could ever dream of! _And you want to try and pretend like you're the good guy here? What have you even done for anyone in this world except destroyed their lives?!_ "

The woman's chest heaved, and her cheeks flushed. Sparkling eyes turned again to Bae. A slender hand extended. "Come here; it's a crime for you to have to suffer a second longer in this world like this. For any child. But if you'd just come to me, I can make sure you never have to again! You never have to feel...how you did after your father was murdered - by a man who worked with the woman who took you in!"

"You're an evil liar!" Bae yelled out, anger in every inch of her small face. "Cinder would never do something like that - Emerald would never! You're just a _monster_!"

"That's right, she is - and we're done listening to her," Emerald said, a tremor to her voice. "You don't get to have some moral high ground; you broke into our house and tried to kill us! You came after us right _here_!"

"The house of a pack of terrorists who got off scot-free because of a corrupt general with a Council seat," the woman retorted. "But for the last time: I have no intentions of killing any of you! I'm only trying to make you all _better_ \- to _help you_!"

"Really?" Emerald twisted at the hips, showing off a flank of blackened, burning gashes in her ribs. "Because _this_ sort of tells me a different story!"

"In order to help you, I need to perform a delicate procedure that requires you to _hold still_ ," the woman hissed, exasperation seeping into her voice. "You weren't holding still!"

"If the name of your procedure is 'death,' then I'm never going to let you do that to me."

"Nooo! You don't _understand_!" the woman wailed. Shimmering, wide eyes looked up at Emerald, past the barrel without a care. "Nobody understands, not until after! So if you'd just let me-"

"No! We're not letting you do a thing to us!" Emerald shouted.

" _Just let me show you!_ "

Emerald fired three rounds into the woman's face and kicked her to the ground - and then she stomped on the back of her neck. "Neo: I'll take the kids, we'll meet up somewhere else later - I'll text you - I can travel faster than you."

Neo nodded. She handed Maggy off to Emerald, gave Bae a push toward her.

The woman at Emerald's feet stirred; Emerald blasted her in the head with several more rounds again, growling.

Emerald secured the kids, and flew off into the sky (worryingly unsteadily compared to Cinder's expert shows of flight, but Neo guessed she just had to have faith Emerald wouldn't drop them!).

Neo gazed at the woman recovering on alley floor. She pulled the blade from her umbrella, smirking. Someone who she could just _hurt_ over and over and _over again_?

She was going to have a lot of fun!

Neo raised the blade high, high as her burst of manic euphoria...

And a hand flashed out to seize her ankle.

That hand was shifting, growing monstrous, and black tendrils were bursting out of it to burrow into Neo's leg!

She kicked and thrashed, stabbed the woman through the head viciously - but none of it did a thing!

The woman was rising from the ground, a monster again in full. Two powerful limbs held Neo now - an unbreakable grip! The stinger tail twisted around, and stabbed Neo through the throat, emerging out the back of her neck.

Neo gasped and choked, body convulsing as a burning spread through her...

"Just...hold still...and everything will be better soon..." the monster's voice rasped.

The burning was intensifying, it was bursting magma within Neo, every organ exploding, every vein melting to spill out into the rest with bubbling blood...

And then it washed away, and the most wonderful sensation overtook her in its stead...

* * *

Flora watched the two huntsmen fighting with the monster on the rooftop over from hers.

A monster with a familiar, long beard and a face littered with scars (twisted as that face was).

Qrow had ordered her to stay back - stay out of the battle.

She was listening, trusting the expert on the matter...but it killed her to inside; what was the point of all her progress these past two years now if she couldn't _use it_? Use it to defend _herself_ for once, not just rely on everyone else around her (on Cinder most of all). Her latest sparring session with Cinder was still fresh enough in her mind, too - minus all of the sensual aspects and flirtations. And...

And Flora wanted to fight for her family, for her _children_ \- wasn't that her right, as much as it was Cinder's? They were partners for a reason, those children were _both of theirs_! Why shouldn't Flora be able to go for it, make a move on her own mind and merit? To be trusted to do something like that? She was just as capable! Why shouldn't she, instead of always hiding behind Cinder whenever a fight broke out? Whenever someone came to hurt them?

At the same time, Flora wasn't...exactly deluded; she knew she was far from a master of combat, or anything on the level of her Maiden of a wife. Flora _knew_ it wasn't the smartest, or most rational thing in the world - but, emotions were already flaring and tensions were at an all-time high.

She focused on bringing up her Aura, and she took a running leap over to the next roof.

Flora hit and rolled, coming up stumbling.

She got her balance back and gave her arms a shake at her sides. She clenched her fists, drew breath, and then she threw herself forward with a burst of Aura and a yell.

"Hey!" Qrow turned and leaped out of the way, yanking his scythe back. "You need to stay-"

"Flora, get-!" Blake started, alarm on her face.

Flora slammed her fist into the monster's chest and shoved all the Aura she could into it; her soul's power erupted, and the monster was blown flat on its back with a loud roar.

The rooftop partially caved in under the monster, concrete shattering and flying in all directions.

Flora leaped atop the monster and slammed her fist into its face with a smaller Aura blast that had it crying out in pain. She punched again, and again! "Tell me - tell me why you want Cinder, tell me why you're _fucking doing this to us! Tell me!_ " she screamed in its face.

The monster laughed, deep and booming. Many eyes blinked at her with sheer delight. "Flora Castella, what I can give you amounts to very little unless you're a member of our Order. I can give you my name, but not much else - it is Darbron Yuun. Although, I can also tell you that the Order wouldn't be opposed to you joining us along with your partner - you have as much of a fighting spirit as her. Your daughters would be welcome with us as well."

Flora roared and punched again. But the monster caught her fist in hand, stopping it dead. It didn't even feel to Flora like the monster was _straining_ or anything. It sat up and gave a little shove, which sent Flora flying backwards.

Blake was suddenly there, catching her in mid air and landing on her feet with her. She set Flora down and fixed her with a _very_ disapproving look. "That was _so_ incredibly stupid! So stupid that we don't have time to talk about it right now. Just, please, stay _back_ and let us handle this. Cinder will kill us if you die on our watch - literally, I'm sure."

Flora stood quivering as her Aura dropped, fists at her sides. She gave a short nod and took a single step back.

Blake and Qrow engaged the monster in earnest again.

And Flora stood there and watched. Again.

* * *

In the forest depths away from the little village, Cinder fought alongside the man she'd once killed against an enemy she just seemingly _couldn't_.

Spears and blades, blasts of fire, freezing and snapping off limbs with ice, scorching with electricity, hurling around the forest with wind - nothing _worked_.

Why did the world seem so damn intent on reducing her to powerlessness?!

"It isn't going to do any good," Ozpin said, breathless as he backflipped and skidded across hard dirt. "The only way to truly defeat anyone infected with the Keshiri Plague is to destroy every last cell in their body near simultaneously; otherwise they'll keep reforming!"

 _Destroy their entire body in one go? I can do_ _that._ Cinder leaped for the monster, seizing it by hits horns and pushing Maiden magic into its body, intent on disintegrating it and scattering the ashes to nothing (like she had once before, in memory held so shameful now, to a girl named Pyrrha Nikos).

The monster's body lit up, pieces began to flake off of it, and then a spike-covered limb was flashing up to bat Cinder away - and give a good tearing up of her Aura on the biggest spike in the process. Cinder twisted wildly through the air and crashed through several trees before a large boulder finally stopped her. She hit the ground with a loud grunt, slammed her fist into the dirt and then launched herself to her feet again.

She flew for the monster again with twin swords in hand and a blast of Maiden fires from her feet.

The monster's arms came up suddenly, and a voice issued forth. "Stop!"

Cinder twisted her mouth into a snarl. _No calling for time-outs just because you might lose! I'm going to burn you to hell!_

There was a burst of green light, and then suddenly Ozpin was in front of her, arms spread wide. "Cinder, _stop_!"

She pulled back in the air and hovered, weapons grasped tight. "What are you-"

"We are not going to win this fight, clearly - not this way," Ozpin spoke, in level tones. "And if we aren't going to win with weapons, then we shall try another tact. Shall we? If they wish to end this pointless exercise, then why not indulge them?"

Cinder gazed past Ozpin, at the monster now standing motionless. "Fine." She set down on solid ground again, but kept her blades in hand. One of which she pointed at the monster. "You: Start talking! Why are you attacking me? Why are you trying to _take me_? What does your _Order_ want with me? What does my _mother_ want with me now? If I heard it right, she wasn't so keen on keeping me around when I was little," she finished, voice dripping with utmost derision.

The monster hunkered down, and then it was shrinking, and transforming, wispy smoke drifting off of it, and then only a human woman stood there in the forest. An ordinary woman.

An ordinary woman with long dark hair in a side ponytail, and eyes a deep brown. Eyes that swept Cinder over and took her in with such ravenous hunger, and shimmered with more in those depths than just...

"I only wanted to see you again - Just once...C-Cindy. Before we get on with things."

"...Mother," Cinder spat the word like the worst of all damning curses.

"Yes."

* * *

"Emerald!"

An unfamiliar voice called, catching Emerald's ear.

She turned - and stared.

"N-Neo? You...you talked?"

"Yep!" Neo's semblance rippled over her, altering hair and clothing from her usual into something...normal. Drab, dull. Black hair, green eyes, an outfit of plain black pants and a long sleeved top to expose midriff. She set her umbrella against the wall and swept over to Emerald, taking her into a hug.

"Uh...are you okay? Did you beat her? Or is this all because you...didn't?" Emerald said slowly, her mind whirling. _What the hell is going on?_ _Why is she talking?! Wait, did I ever know if she could even do that, or if it was an injury or a choice...?_

Neo's hands roamed her back, patting and caressing at her. A sigh into Emerald's shoulder. "Neither! Emerald, we don't have to fight them at all; we don't have to kill anyone - good thing, too! I hate killing people. I hate hurting people. But now...I won't have to again!"

"What do you- _what_?" Emerald pulled away, holding Neo at arm's length. Staring into her face. There was joy there, there was honest to god relief, and there was... "What's wrong with you? Were you _drugged_?"

Neo, for the first time ever, _laughed_. It was short and quick, and deep - and came with an adorable snorting sound. "Em, nothing's _wrong_ , I wasn't _drugged_! It's just like she was trying to tell us: they can help us - cure us! And she did, for me. Everything in here-" she tapped a finger to her head. "-it's all gone now, it's all crystal clear. It's _better now_! I could spend hours reading to Maggy, playing with her, I could have her in my lap or sleep with her in my bed and _I'd never have to worry!_ "

"Wh...what? What're you _talking about?!_ " Emerald felt like she'd fallen into a lunatic's dream. Or a nightmare.

"I've been ill, Em," Neo spoke quietly, ducking her head. That high, that joy of hers, was fading now. "Since I was a kid - it started when I was a teenager. I've hurt people, killed...and I couldn't help myself! But now I don't have to anymore; Lisume fixed me!"

"Lisume? She gave you a name?"

"In all that misunderstanding we were having back there, she forgot to give it," Neo stated. "But she fixed that with me now. I told you: we don't have to fight. We just had to talk it out together - and her and I did."

"Neo..."

"Yep?"

"Sit down, don't move, I'm _fucking calling Cinder._ "

"Ok, sure! Oh, do you mind if I check on Maggy and Bae, though? Please? I can do that now! No problems!"

"I- I'd really rather you didn't," Emerald said honestly, hand drifting toward her weapon nearly subconsciously. Nearly.

Neo noticed; her gaze flickered down, then back up to her face. "Oh. You still think I'm drugged or something."

"I still do," Emerald confirmed bluntly.

"Ok, I'll wait right...here." Neo stepped away and plopped down on the floor, crossing her legs and leaning back on her arms. "Just hurry up with the call, please! I really don't want to waste any time now."

"Y-yeah...sure..." Emerald fumbled with her scroll, going through her contacts list with frantic fingers.

* * *

Cinder shoved past Ozpin and stalked right up to her mother, chin raised.

Stopping right in front of her, point blank, she glared at her mother with flaming Maiden eyes.

Her blades quivered at her sides, yearning to be raised. _But we're not quite there yet._

"Why?" Cinder spoke, hard.

"Why what? Why did I wash my hands of you and your father? Why didn't I ever find you again, sooner than this? Why is the Order-"

"You _know_ I want answers to all of those questions!" Cinder hissed, blade coming up in a flash to press to her mother's throat. A small smirk came to her. "And I'm going to get them - the only thing you get to do here is decide how painful it's going to be for you..."

Mother rolled her eyes, a hand came up to grasp Cinder's blade - and then push it away like it didn't _matter_. "Cindy, I deserve a lot of things - but not a sword to my neck. I won't tolerate that from anyone. Not even you. That's just...so overboard." A little snort, that for a moment Cinder mistook as having come from her own mouth.

Cinder swiftly swung her other blade around to replace the one her mother had removed. "You turned yourself into a monster. For what? Power? Status? Money? What was it for, and was it even worth it?"

Mother gave yet another eye roll, and swatted at the sword. "This isn't how I wanted this to go. It was supposed to be nice, and calm, and-"

"And I don't _care_ ," Cinder snapped. "You're going to tell me what I want to know, and nothing else; I don't care what you think, how you feel, or what you want out of this! Are we clear?"

"Cindy, I understand that this is a huge shock for you-"

Cinder dematerialized her left blade and seized her mother's neck in powerful grimm claws, growling like one herself. "Stop calling me that! You don't have any _goddamn right_ to call me some cutesy nickname - like you _care_ , like you...like you even _raised me at all_!"

"Cinder, then. All right," her mother said calmly. "This can all go so much smoother if you'll agree to stop being so-"

"It would have gone smoother if you'd knocked on the door, instead of coming out of a magical shadow portal with your disgusting claws swinging!" Cinder cut across. "I _doubt_ you want to do anything genuine here. Not making up for lost time, not apologizing like a real human being - which would involve you being on your knees right now if you were serious! No, I think...this is either a stalling tactic for reinforcements, or you're trying to find some way to get me to drop my guard and capture me."

"But I _do_ , Cinder. All I want is to tell you-"

Cinder squeezed. "I don't believe you! I'm _not_ going to believe you!"

"Then we aren't going to get anywhere."

"Then we aren't," Cinder agreed.

Her mother's face changed. "But we do have places to be. Cinder, the reason I came to you, the reason the Order sent Darbron to meet you, we just want you back with us. The way you were meant to be. If I'd never...I screwed up, I know I did. But I want to fix that mistake now. You're very special, you're so- so special and beautiful, and I never saw it before, but I see it now. And we need you. The Order needs you. You're the-"

"I'm the key to victory? I'm the one you need? I'm your greatest asset?" Cinder interrupted, scoffing. "Spare me; I've heard all that shit before."

"But it's true! The very reason you were _born_ was to do for us what none of the rest could ever do! All of us combined, and we can't - but you can!"

"And just what is it that I can _do_?"

Mother's gaze shifted to Ozpin. Hatred, disgust...and even fear in there. "You can set us all free, after what he did to us. Locked us away for centuries, in our own little world! Not only fighters, or soldiers, or adults - but _children_ , Cinder. There are children behind the seal, by the dozens! Most of them haven't even done anything wrong. Certainly nothing to deserve three hundred years in another dimension..."

Cinder didn't move. "I can't tell if you're just trying to appeal to my limited compassion, or if you're actually telling me the truth."

"It's the truth," mother insisted. "But you can free them, you can free all of them..."

"I already have children to worry about - no thanks to _you_."

"C-Cinder-"

" _They will all rot in there_!" Cinder tightened her grip, brought up her other hand to grasp her mother's head, and she wrenched it to one side.

Her mother fell with a hard _thud_.

Dark smoke rose from her body, tendrils reached up from the ground to ensnare her, and Tyra Aryle disappeared.

"She is not dead," Ozpin said quietly.

Cinder grinned. "Lucky me; I'll get to do that _a second time_."

"Well...perhaps we should begin thinking of a way to put the information we've just been given to use."

"How so?"

"Theory and speculation could lead us to a concrete answer." Ozpin leaned on his cane, his expression turning to one of deep thought. "Something only I am aware of is that, in using the Relic of Creation on themselves, the Ascendants have gifted themselves a certain type of magic - a certain...portion. Not nearly so great as that of a natural born mage, like Salem and myself, but perhaps more akin to the Maidens. Though, in a world like today's, even that portion of power is not to be taken lightly." Ozpin eyed her a moment, pointed. "It is with this magic that I'm certain they can and have devised an alternative means of accessing their imprisoned - a means that just might involve yourself. As your mother just confirmed."

"How, exactly?"

"I couldn't say for certain - though, your mother could have," he added, with a disapproving look that had Cinder glaring back. "But the soul, and the magic of the Gods...are not things to underestimate."

"So you're useless then."

Ozpin laughed. When he regained himself, he studied her face intently. Searching for who knew what. "Tell me something, if you would, please: as far as you are aware, have your eyes always been that particular shade of amber?"

"Yes..."

"How curious."

"Mind explaining?" Cinder said, annoyed.

"Of course - forgive me. It's just that, well...don't you think that glowing orange eyes are a bit out of the ordinary? Can you recall ever seeing anyone else with eyes like yours?"

"Eye," Cinder gritted.

"Yes. So, you can recall no one else? Even your own mother just now had brown eyes - not amber. Curious, isn't it? I myself can remember only one other person in millenia of history with those same eyes."

"Who?"

"Imryll Mordeya."

"And just who is _that_?"

"Well, only the woman who founded the Order of Keshiri, and was the one to lay hands on and utilize the Relic of Creation three hundred years ago. To become the first of many to call themselves a whole new species: the Ascendants. The one who first began spreading their...plague across Remnant."

"What are you saying? That I'm related to her or something?"

"I think that it's highly likely by this point, yes."

"But she...is trapped in another dimension, isn't she? And my birth mother is Tyra Aryle. My birth father is Marcus Aryle. The Relic of Knowledge- Jinn- she _told me herself_. Unless you think she's somehow fallible."

"Well, the Gods themselves were very much fallible, Cinder. Why should any of their creations be different? Are we different, ourselves?"

"So, what, my parents aren't actually my parents - _again_?" Cinder snorted with utmost exasperation.

"Oh no, no - you misunderstand! The biological bodies that created you, and later birthed you, _indeed were_ that of Tyra Aryle and Marcus Aryle. However, who can say if, during time of conception, either one of them was the one in control of either of those bodies?"

"You're talking about possession. Like some Geist grimm."

"Similar enough, yes," Ozpin said quietly. "I think that...if Imryll were to have taken possession over either one of them, her essence, her soul, and her unique magic, could have been poured into the new life created then. Fused with the new soul within your mother's womb."

Sheer _terror_ exploded inside of Cinder. "So you think that I have Imryll's soul inside of me?! Is this like _you_ , is she going to-!"

"No!" Ozpin said firmly. "No, I don't believe she could in any way consciously take control over you. I doubt she is like me in that way; it is likely her essence slumbers within you, unable to do anything else. Not at present, not on its own, at any rate. It would need..."

"What?"

"Feeding, is perhaps the best word. Feeding, and awakening."

"I-"

"I wonder just how much you took for granted that you were able to absorb and control the Maiden's powers, while being entirely removed from the system itself."

"Excuse me?" Cinder was getting tired of this old man's evasions.

"Did you think it solely to be because of the grimm fused to you? I think it's more likely that you were actually primed to accept and control magic all along - because you were already in possession of another soul, and the magic that came with it. Had you not been, I think you would have faced rejection. And I'm wondering now...whether or not Salem saw this in you, knew this about you. If that is why she chose you to begin with."

Cinder looked down into her lap, at her grimm arm laid across it. She flexed the claws, her mind in turmoil. "And did _you_ know this about me, when we encountered one another in the Beacon vault? Did you know about Imryll, about some connection between us? Let alone her soul in me?"

"I had quite a lot else going on at the time," Ozpin said, with another _pointed_ look. "But, yes, the unique resemblance of eye color was noted - and stored away for later musings."

Cinder clenched her fists in the ensuing silence. Like her heart was being clenched then, by some almighty force - imagined or not.

Cinder-"

"You deal in body-thieving," Cinder said harshly, lifting her head. "You have more ancient magic experience than anyone else alive - you can take _her_ soul out of me! You can get her out, you can do away with her. This can all end, and I can go home already without worrying about devastating my kids' lives!"

"Cinder, my power is at an all time low, and I'm not even certain I could do something about a _soul_ -"

"Your contraptions at Beacon and Atlas were capable of transferring Auras - souls!" Cinder went on, relentless. "We'll go back there - either one - and we'll put me in it and you'll use it on me! It can work, it _will work_! Stand up and let's go!"

"Cinder, I _can't_ , I'm terribly sorry, but this is a far different kind of situation than the Maidens!" Ozpin finally said, loudly over her.

"No it isn't, no it _isn't_ , just fix me, just fix this dammit!" Cinder yelled in his face.

"You were _born_ with this soul in you - and if I'm right, then further - fused with your own! From very _conception_! The Maidens don't even work that way! I could no more just remove her soul from yours than split yours in half! And that is nearly what I'd be doing if I tried what you ask of me! And if I were to rip your soul in two, you'd be rendered severely mentally damaged, robbed of most faculties, perhaps even entirely plunged into a comatose state! How would you go back to your children then? They would be the ones caring for you the rest of your life, instead of the other way around!"

Cinder whirled away - back again toward Ozpin. She lit her eye flames up and flew forward, taking him by the collar and shoving him into a tree. She raised a flaming hand and shoved it in his face, fingers curled into claws like that of her grimm. " _Fix me, now - take it out! Or I'm going to-_ "

"What, Cinder? Are you going to mutilate the body of an innocent woman? As you yourself once were? What would Flora think of you then? What of your children?"

" _H-help me,_ " she said, in high tones. " _Please..._ "

Ozpin raised his hands. "I will - I swear to you. But we cannot...be so reckless and hasty about it. Or the consequences to you could be...infinitely worse than anything else we might come up with. I understand how- how terrifying this must be for you...but we cannot give in to that terror, and let it control us. Do not let it control you, Cinder. You are the one in control - of yourself, your soul, and your life. No one and nothing else. Not your stepfamily, not Salem, not a single moment of your past. And not even Imryll Mordeya."

Cinder let him go, and stepped away. Her arms fell to her sides, her chin dropped to her chest. Tears rolled free from her eye.

Her beeping scroll pulled her free from the raging storm that was her mind and soul.

Automatic hands took it out - she tapped at it with quivering finger.

"Em-erald," she choked out, desperately trying to regain herself. "What is it?"

"The girls are fine - but, we were attacked by a monster. And now Neo is-"

"Lisume isn't a _monster_ ; none of them are monsters! She's just-" An unfamiliar, high voice cut across Emerald.

"-Neo's had her brains scrambled, and she's talking now," Emerald continued on firmly.

"Excuse me?"

"I know!" Emerald exclaimed. "It's really weird. That, and she keeps advocating for our attackers - claims it was some misunderstanding, that they just wanted to _help us_ and _talk_!"

Ozpin's head came up, his eyes wide. "Your friend is infected. She's been taken by them. Ms. Sustrai, you _need_ to get those children as far from her as possible! Keep yourself away from her. Do not listen to a word she says, do not let her near you! She'll try to do the same thing to all of you!"

" _Get them away from Neo, right now_!" Cinder yelled her agreement.

"A-alright! I'm on it!" Emerald ended the call instantly.

Cinder's violent tremors hardly helped her make her next call to Flora's scroll.


	5. Meetings Part 2

Miltia Malachite whirled about the stage, hand to her heart, voice ringing out.

The only lights on in the bar were the ones casting their glow down on _her_.

She sang her soul out, every bit of vigor poured into her body's movements.

In the end she came to a halt in bow, an arm across her stomach, the other extended from her side.

The music ended; she flipped her head up, hair whipping back - absently adjusted the earpiece and mic.

She stepped off the stage, going for the only person that mattered to her.

"What'd you think?"

Mercury Black pushed off from the wall, unfolding his arms. He cocked his head, pulling a thoughtful look. "It wasn't bad."

"Asshole!"

"Hey, do I really need to remind you that I'm a mercenary, not a music critic?"

"Hey, do I really need to remind you that I'm your _girlfriend_ , and that it wouldn't kill you to just say that I _totally rocked the place?!_ "

"I thought it was obvious enough not to need mentioning." Mercury gestured broadly, put hand over an ear. "Unless you have hearing problems? 'Cause all of that? That's all for _you_. _Obviously_ you did great, okay?"

"...Thanks."

"You're welcome. Hey, you want me to take you out for dinner or something now?" Mercury suggested quickly.

"What do you think?"

"I'd say...yeah, you probably _do_ want me to do that."

"So let's get to it."

"Sure thing, babe. Just let me find my...key. Wait, why do I need to find my key?" Mercury patted himself down, annoyed. He groaned and threw up his hands. "Oh man, not awesome; if Em was here, she'd be the top suspect!"

Miltia sighed with irritation of her own, scanning the busy bar's patrons over. "Well, she's not. So let's find out who did this."

Suddenly, Mercury's eyes went wide - a hand raised to point at the wall, which was twisting with living shadows. "I'm going to take a wild guess here and say: whoever the hell is causing _that_ to happen. You've got your weapons on you, right? I'm thinking we're gonna need them..."

Miltia nodded, grasping her wrists and pulling back her long, wide sleeves to reveal her gauntlets in full. She extended the blades and took up a combat stance, as tendrils of darkness emerged from the wall.

Mercury did the same beside her, and they stood shoulder to shoulder waiting for the threat to make a move.

The bar had emptied real quick; they were the only two left in it now.

And then the wall rippled, whispers echoed, and then there were three.

"What the hell..." Mercury gasped.

Miltia was similarly dumbstruck - that tended to happen when you saw someone materialize right out of a wall. It was shadow and strangeness; it was Atlas all over again. It was...it had to be some kind of _magic_. There wasn't a semblance in the world that could do something like _t_ _his_! It was something like Cinder, like Emerald, like _Salem_.

Black smoke wafted as the person fully formed. A fair skinned young woman, of frizzy blonde hair and light blue eyes, and many freckles.

Miltia threw out her arm, directing her claws at the woman. "You! You ruined my big debut! I had several more acts ready to go - and you _ruined that_!"

"I'm so sorry," the woman said, in quite earnest tones, face twisted with remorse. "But, I think I can make it up to you, Miss Malachite. How would you like to have the chance to perform for _thousands_ , instead of only a few dozen? Everyone would be so glad to listen to you!"

Miltia eyed the woman's face. Flushed, smiling, full of sincerity and hope... "Go fuck yourself!"

The woman sighed, shook her head. "The youth of today are so rude - and _crude_..."

"Bitch - you're hardly any older than we are!" Miltia retorted.

"I'm actually three hundred years older than you are," said the woman simply.

Miltia and Mercury looked at each other.

"Why is it always the weird shit?" Mercury groaned.

"Leave us alone, weirdo!" Miltia hurled out at the woman.

"The name is Lisume, and, I'm sorry, but that isn't going to happen. I've been _ordered_ to invite you to join us. I was _given permission_! You should be so _grateful_! It's wonderful; it's going to be so wonderful. You'll see, once you're with us!" The woman, Lisume, her face was just _shining_ now. Glowing. Those blue eyes of hers sparkling, totally just looking...

Miltia chortled. "Are you on drugs? I'm not joining a drug-addicted cult!"

"Me neither," Mercury commented. "I work best with a clear head, thank you very much."

Lisume pulled an offended look. "You'll work _better_ with us, Mr. Black; there will be so many advantages in life for you too! So many improvements, in ways you couldn't imagine! You just have to experience it for yourself."

"I'll pass. I like my life where it is now - girlfriend included," Mercury said, with a quick glance at Miltia - a little smirk and a nod.

"That's so sweet," Miltia responded, heart a flutter. "What would be even sweeter is if we could kick her ass together."

Mercury's smirk widened. "I'm down for that. Been a few weeks since I gave someone a nice beatdown."

Miltia and Mercury lunged for Lisume as one.

Even as they darted at her, Lisume suddenly exploded out of her own skin, shifting and changing and growing - sprouting twelve feet tall, maybe more!

She was a monster that only looked vaguely like a woman now, with even her womanly features distorted - she was all spikes and claws, sharp teeth and mandibles, a whip-like tail with a stinger on the end of it, and too many eyes on her face now that looked, disturbingly, still very human. Her hair reached the floor, but it wasn't hair anymore - it was strands of what looked like barbed wire, metal and dangerous.

Mercury leapt high, bringing a boot across Lisume's monstrous face in spinning kick, on momentum of a rocket Dust round from his boots. He then blasted four rounds into her face in mid air and backflipped away on _that_ burst of momentum.

Miltia slid low past the woman, slashing at an ankle. She stabbed into the floor and twirled around with a leg out, then she hurled herself forward with an Aura burst to slice for the ankle on the _other side of the monster's body_.

Lisume crashed backwards onto the floor, shattering a table and several chairs.

Mercury sauntered forward, idle hand brushing his hair back out of his eyes. "Cake; the bigger they are, the harder they fall, am I right?"

Miltia kept her guard and her claws up, eyes fixed to the monster.

Lisume continued to lay there, sprawled among wood debris.

"I'm right, right? Come on, Milly, tell me I'm-"

Lisume's tail lashed out, the stinger surging for Mercury like a spear.

"Whoop!" Mercury threw himself into a spinning backflip, landing on a knee far out of Lisume's reach. He stood slowly. Pointed a finger at the waving tail. "I almost didn't account for that thing - tails are more a grimm thing, and grimm fighting isn't really a _me_ thing. I'm more of a people person. But you, lady...you're a bit of both, aren't you?"

"I'm _more_!" Lisume's distorted voice responded. Monstrous and raspy, but still recognizable. She rose to her feet, those many eyes fixated on Mercury. Her long claws, each like a sword, were twiddled at her sides. That tail of hers flicked about behind her back; Miltia made sure she was far out of its range.

"You know, it's the funniest thing: I've heard that before." Mercury smirked. "Wasn't too impressed when the _other lady_ said it either."

Mercury and Miltia moved together again to engage the monster.

Claws and boots, kicks and slashes, they darted around Lisume - mindful of that tail of hers - always attacking from opposite sides. Left and right, front and back. Above and below. Always keeping her off balance, keeping her distracted, keeping her whirling and twisting.

Miltia leapt onto Lisume's back and slashed for her neck in a twirl, both claws rapidly ripping through it.

The head fell, and then so did the body.

Blake smoke hissed from both halves of the decapitated being.

"Good going," Mercury exclaimed, giving her a double thumbs up and a grin. "Now that that's over, what do you say we go get that dinner? All this fighting is making me one hungry-"

Lisume's tail flashed out and pierced Miltia through the small of her back.

Miltia gasped, staring down at the protruding black stinger, and the blood gushing from the wound.

Shadowy tendrils burst from Lisume's neck stump, connecting with the head and pulling it back into place - the slash wounds sealing in an instant.

Lisume rose to her feet and drew Miltia in close on her tail, impaled still. Suspended now.

Clawed hands took hold of Miltia; mandibles chittered.

Sharp teeth...

Lisume pulled Miltia right to her mouth, and bit down on her skull.

Miltia felt it _crack_ , exploding agony, she was screaming and thrashing-

And then she went limp, and she was just numb.

Numb and cold...and then burning, bursting inside...

And then she felt _good_!

It was wave after wave of pleasure, it was a dizziness, a heady feeling, it was joy soaring in her soul, it was _everything!_

A sense of completion, of _wholeness_ that she hadn't felt since her sister's death. It was connection, it was-

_**We're here for you now, Miltia...and we always will be.** _

Shadows and tendrils enveloped Miltia and Lisume, and then it all swallowed them up completely, plunging Miltia into total darkness.

* * *

The problem, Flora thought, was that Cinder's issues were Flora's issues; she didn't _let her_ \- that was it. Every time, Cinder was leaping in front of her, putting herself in the way, pushing Flora back. Cinder probably never even gave it a thought. But it was what she did. It might have been logical (Cinder was stronger, more skilled, more experienced), and also sweet (Cinder _loved her_ so much that she'd risk her life for her without even giving it a second thought), but...maybe Cinder _should_ take a second to think about it sometime. Maybe Flora just needed a second to tell her...explain it. Have a nice discussion about it. Clear it all up.

Cinder would rethink it, and she'd concede.

And then, they could be true partners - fighting together as a _team_. On equal footing. Or, as equal as they could get in the area of combat.

Flora was just so sick of being useless, and...well, she guessed Cinder wasn't the only one feeling particularly _helpless_ lately - like everything around her was just always out of her control.

It happened so fast; Qrow was knocked off the building, and then Blake was being snatched up from behind.

Twisting tendrils emerged from the monster's back, and plunged into Blake's body.

She screamed and thrashed, but she didn't gain even an inch of freedom.

And then she suddenly slumped over in monster's grasp, black smoke rising from her skin.

The monster set her down almost gently, shifting its stance to a more relaxed posture.

Blake shivered, she gasped, her veins pulsed beneath her skin with a black and white glow...and then she stood again, weapon in hand. Her keen cat eyes found Flora - flickered to Qrow (who had come flying back up in bird form in recovery) before returning to Flora again. Blake seemed totally unconcerned now about the hulking monster standing right behind her.

"Blake..." Qrow said, hesitant. He turned his scythe back into a sword, holding it at the ready. Eyes narrowed, his mouth a frown.

"Blake!" Flora called out to the young woman. "What are you doing?"

Blake smiled beautifully, stretched across her entire face. "What the Order wants."

"Hey!" Qrow yelled, stepping forward. "Whatever that bastard just did to you - snap out of it, kid! Right now! I don't want to hurt you; how would I even explain that to Ruby?"

Blake raised her gun, aiming it squarely at Qrow. "It's fine - just say we had a conflict of interests."

"Blake, please-" Flora started.

"It's _fine_ ," Blake repeated firmly. "The Order doesn't want anyone dead - that's the last thing they want! And that's the last thing I want, too. I don't want to hurt you, either - but it might have to happen, if you want to keep trying to stop them. If Cinder could just agree to come to us, this could all be over. It's in her hands - it always has been."

"Kid..." Qrow's expression was pure anguish. His knuckles were white on his weapon hilt. "Please don't make me do this. Not with you. What about Yang? What's she going to think about you? About this?"

Blake's face flickered. She shook her head, sighing. "Yang wouldn't understand - like you wouldn't. None of you. Like I didn't, until I was _here_. Until I met them, connected with them! And that's okay, that's understandable - that's fine. Just know that there won't be any hard feelings on my end of things. All I want...is to help these people. That's what I've always wanted: to help as a huntress, to help the faunus. That hasn't changed. That's all I'm doing here. Because there are so many people who _need_ my help! They're trapped, Qrow, locked away by Ozpin. His mistake, his sick, evil...mistake. There are centuries worth of children locked away in there, away from everyone _here_ on Remnant! How is that even right, fair, justifiable?! Should they pay for how they were born, for who they were born of?!"

"Blake, please, whatever's really going on, we can talk about it," Flora said desperately. "Just come back over here, just put that down - we can discuss all of this together like civil, normal, reasonable people. We don't have to keep pulling weapons on each other at every turn, attacking each other..."

"You only don't want that because it's me now," Blake said quietly. "And I get that. You don't want to hurt a friend. But you're fine with hurting monsters. And that...that isn't _okay_. A lot of people justify attacking the faunus that way, too, you know." Her eyes blinked at Flora with utter disappointment, and sorrow.

"Blake-"

"I'm going to do what I can to help all of these poor people, and then after, I'll come back. But until then...I'll put myself between them and you every time."

The monster, Darbron, lowered a great clawed hand to Blake's shoulder. A towering shadow. "And we're grateful to you for that resolve, Blake. It's time to go now."

Blake nodded, finally holstering her weapon. "Right."

"Blake, don't go with him!" Qrow shouted, incensed. "We don't know what the hell more they'll even do to you!"

Blake smiled almost sadly - like she thought _Qrow_ was sad. "They're not going to do anything to me - except give me a wonderfully kind welcome."

Shadows rippled beneath Blake and Darbron's feet, and then they sunk down into the ground and vanished in smoke.

Qrow stood stock still, weapon trembling, staring at the spot where the pair had vanished.

He started to chuckle to himself, louder and louder, quavering and high. Then, he tossed back his head and let loose a scream.

* * *

Emerald pocketed her scroll and held her weapons at her sides as she stared down at Neo. "You really _are_ messed up in the head now! You're on that monster's side now!"

Neo pulled a face, rising to her feet. "Don't make this into a fight! Not here - not with Bae and Maggy around."

"I'm sure that's what you want - for this to just be _easy_! To screw up my head, to screw up their heads too, just like yours was!" Emerald snarled. "God knows what that woman even did to you!"

"Emerald-"

"Don't you come any closer!" Emerald shouted, aiming her guns and stepping back.

Neo tilted her head, frowning intensely. She looked like she was listening to someone else in the room - someone who wasn't even there. Then, she nodded. "You need time; that's okay. We'll see you again soon. Cinder isn't ready yet anyways." Neo bowed as the wall behind her shimmered with shadow, and stepped back through the darkness to disappear into smoke.

* * *

"'Cinder isn't ready yet?'" Flora quoted, squeezing the subject of said quote's hand.

After meeting up and pooling together their lien, those who remained after the Order's simultaneous attacks had managed to make it back to Atlas - and now they sat together in late evening's waning light in Emerald's apartment. A day of respite, at last, truly and together.

"Those were her exact words?" Ozpin spoke heavily.

"Yes," Emerald confirmed, peering worriedly at Cinder. "What does that even mean? What did she mean about you? This _is_ all about you, isn't it? What do these monsters want with you?"

"Apparently," Cinder began, slow and quiet. Controlled. "they need me to free thousands of _more_ monsters just like them, who are locked away in another dimension."

"Monsters - or people?" Flora said, her eyes landing squarely on Ozpin.

Ozpin gazed back at her evenly. "Both. People who were twisted by power, magic gone wrong, and whose desires and intentions are now anything but benevolent. I assure you of that completely. I did the only thing I could - the last thing I could think of. It was desperate, it was terrible, perhaps, I acknowledge that...but it was what I had to do to stop them at the time. I'm under no illusions that innocent people were locked away along with the rest - but those innocents had their minds and bodies changed just the same, making them beyond help. Making them a threat to more innocents. It is something you have now seen for yourselves, in Neopolitan, in Miss Belladonna, and in Miss Malachite. That is what we are dealing with: friends who become enemies, innocents who become threats."

"Those damn Relics made them all this way in the first place - can't they be used to change them back?" Mercury demanded, balling his fists in his lap. "Get h-her back...? That's all I give a shit about right about now - no offense, Cinder."

"I care about getting people back, too," Cinder replied, waving a hand in dismissal. She fixed her amber eye on Ozpin. "So, answer us: can we use the Relics to change Neo and Blake back to normal?"

"Oz..." Qrow said, his head in his hands. As he'd been for the past hour now.

Ozpin eyed everyone in the room. He drew a breath. "I'm not certain. The way the Relic of Creation in particular works...it is very tricky to use properly, or any sort of accurately. Even for myself, if the picture in my mind was off...if my wording was not...the results could end up being something less than satisfactory. Again. And going for the Relic again ourselves would only inform the Order exactly of its location - and allow them to obtain it again after three hundred years. I cannot risk revealing its hiding place, or the manner in which it was hidden." His eyes roamed the walls, the ceiling. "Even now, they may be listening to us. Watching us."

"I don't see any spooky shadows right now," Flora spoke. "I think we're all right for now."

"For now, yes," Ozpin agreed. "But that could change in an instant. At any instant. We must make our plans while we still have our privacy."

"I was under the impression that that _was_ what we were doing here," Cinder snarked gleefully.

Ozpin sighed at her. "Quite. I suppose we should begin by discussing how to best keep our remaining allies, friends, and loved ones safe from the Order - from being taken by them, and changed just as the ones already stolen from us have been."

"How?" Flora questioned.

"Well, for a start, I would say we do not allow them to be ignorant of the threat out there - or let them be apart from us for any great lengths of time." Ozpin's eyes went to Cinder. "I understand you dropped Maggy off at the day care center this morning? And that you allowed Bae to return to school as well?"

"What? Are you going to tell me how to be a parent now?" Cinder scoffed. "Because the parenting advice I'm going off of with this decision, is that children need normalcy and routine in stressful times - hence, I dropped them off at school today."

"No - but I am going to tell you that the best chance your children have of surviving this crisis, is to remain by their mothers' sides at all times," Ozpin said calmly. "The Order is not a stranger to taking children - and, as some of you are now aware, the process of being transformed is quite a traumatic, terrible, and painful one. Would you wish your daughters to undergo that near death experience?"

"But why would they even want to just...go after ours like that? Alone?" Flora stammered. "That isn't strategy, it isn't tactics, it makes no sense. There's no advantage! And- and- a three year old? Would they _really_ just...that's-"

"It's reprehensible, and disgusting, and any number of other words to describe such an act," Ozpin interrupted, nodding. "But, all the same, it is what the Order _does_. It is what I have seen them do before, time and again, three hundred years ago. They do not believe they are acting maliciously, or cruelly; they believe everyone deserves to be an Ascendant, that it is a higher state of being, a higher quality of life. A gift and a reward. That to allow anyone to remain _not so_ is truly what is immoral in this world. And, in this situation, I believe they wouldn't hesitate to do so for another reason: because it would allow them to draw Cinder out, and force her cooperation."

"But...a school...a public..." Flora whispered out, trying again. "They _wouldn't just_..."

"They would," Ozpin said with finality.

"Alright, I'll go and get her. It's about time to pick her up anyways," Cinder replied, rising to her feet.

Her scroll went off in that moment, beeping loud in the silent living room.

Cinder pulled it out and gave it a glance. She frowned.

The caller was unknown. In name and number both.

She accepted it, and brought the scroll to her ear. "Who is this?"

" _Cinder, dear_ _\- hello there_ ," came a cheerful, sweet female voice. _"If I'm not mistaken, little Maggy needs someone to pick her up right about now - but we're having a bit of an issue here I was hoping you could clear up."_

A tremble ran through Cinder's body; the world around her fell away, the voices were distant and muted. And her mind was a barren wasteland, save for a single little thought in a sea of horror.

_Salem!_

* * *

A woman in flowing gown, with fair skin, beautiful blue eyes, and golden locks gorgeous beyond measure, all but glided into the downtown Mantle's education center.

"Can I help you, ma'am?"

The woman flashed a beautiful smile. "Yes. I'm here on behalf of Cinder Rynon and Flora Castella to pick up Maggy - bring her home for them."

A duck of a head. Eyes focusing on screen. "Name, please?"

"Lilith. Lilith Zang."

"I see. Well, Ms. Zang, I don't see your name anywhere on the list of approved contacts or caretakers for Maggy Rynon. So I can't let you in for her. You'll have to leave, or get proper verification for me from the parents themselves."

The woman's eye was caught by a shadow creeping along the wall to her left - a wall entirely bathed in sunlight come through the floor-to-ceiling windows at the facility's entrance.

"Ma'am, if you can't square this with us now, I need you to leave," the receptionist spoke again, more firmly.

"What was that?" The woman shook her head, flashed another radiant smile. "Oh, yes. That's right; I'll do that. Just let me make a call - I can have Cinder Rynon clear this all up directly with you. She must just not have gotten around to contacting you yet. I'll just step over here, shall I?"

"Of course. I'd be happy to help you - if you can give me proof of authorization from either parent."

The woman moved away from the desk - over near the left wall. She pulled out a scroll with long nailed fingers painted black, tapping through it and then holding it up to her ear.

"Who is this?" Cinder's voice came immediately, confused.

"Cinder, dear - hello there," the woman replied cheerily. "If I'm not mistaken, little Maggy needs someone to pick her up right about now. But we're having a bit of an issue here I was hoping you could clear up."

"D-don't...don't g-go near her, don't-"

"You all seem to be a bit preoccupied at the moment," the woman carried on, voice dripping with sympathy. "and so you obviously needed someone else to step in and bring Maggy home. But, the problem is, that I can't do that for you unless you give your express permission to the diligently hard-working young man at the front desk here! Just a trifling matter - a little issue - nothing too serious, is it? Could you speak to him for me, help me here...so that I can help _you_?"

"I a-am not- letting you get anywhere _near her_! Do you hear me?! I'll _fucking kill you if you even-_ "

The woman sighed, shifting the scroll against her ear and tilting her head back as shadows squirmed across the high ceiling. "Cinder, I know you still don't exactly have very _fond feelings_ for me, but you need to work with me here - or else Maggy is going to be in quite a lot of trouble! All you need to do is grant me your permission - that's all. Just a few little words..."

"Don't you dare touch-"

"Cinder, _stop panicking and listen to me_!" the woman hissed, lowering her voice. Silence on the line. "That's better. Now, if you want Maggy to keep her cute, happy little life...I need you to just do this for me. Help me here, so that I can help _her_. I am _not_ here to hurt her. Quite the opposite: I'm here to get her out of danger. There are very powerful, very old, and very dangerous forces moving in this world again, and they seem very intent on targeting you and your circle of family and friends - something I'm not too inclined to let happen."

"Why?"

"Because I always _meant it_ when I told you I was proud of you, and pleased with you - and even that you were almost like a daughter to me. Regardless of how it all turned out between us, _I_ still bear you no ill will whatsoever. And you know, you're only going to be around for another few decades; I'd like to spend more time with you before you're gone forever. After millennia of watching people come and go, you come to quite miss most of them for the familiarity alone. And it's really quite impossible to hold grudges. But besides all of that, Maggy is quite adorable; I wouldn't want to see her torn apart and pulled into shadows for the rest of her life."

"The Order...is targeting Maggy now?"

"Specifically, and immediately - yes," the woman said softly, casting another glance about. "I have my ways of tracking their kind - I _have_ dealt with them before, just as Ozpin did at the time; they were a _very annoying_ organization for both of us - and I followed them right to this quaint building after I recognized that they were active again in Remnant; I imagine they're going to move to take Maggy within minutes. I've glimpsed them even as we speak. So, Cinder, what will it be? Let me take your daughter to safety - or refuse me, and leave her to them?"

"I...you could be lying to me."

"Cinder," the woman sighed, exasperated. "When have I _ever_ lied to you? About anything at all? You can't think of a single example - don't even try! And if I were here to hurt her, why would I walk in and do this as a normal person would? Why call you at all? Why wouldn't I have just strolled in with magic blasting, and killed her and walked out again? I could have been in and out in two minutes. But instead I'm wasting precious time staying on this line with _you_."

"You- you might be trying to kidnap her. To use her against me, or- or to turn her into some devoted, twisted new follower!"

"As much as I find her just the cutest little thing - hardly, Cinder. I wouldn't want to waste years mothering a toddler, even to be some faithful follower. Not least because I haven't actually mothered any little girls in millennia, and I can't trust that I haven't gotten rusty over the eons. But also, well, I haven't done that before, have I? Why would I now? No, I prefer finding already competent, mature individuals to work for me, as you well know."

"Well then you're-"

"The longer we play this game, the less time Maggy has left. Are you going to give her up to the Order like that just because of who's offering to do the saving? Are you really that angry with me? That you'd be that spiteful? That petty? Your own daughter's life, just to score a point against me?"

"Okay."

"Thank you. Now, one moment, please." The woman moved back for the receptionist, tapping at and offering out her scroll. "Here we are - Cinder, if you'd be a dear and clear this up for us now?"

"Y-yes. Hello. This is Cinder Rynon; my partner and I are- being held up at the moment, and it seems that the current caretakers you should have on file, Emerald and Neo, aren't able to make it. It's a big- a big mess, sadly. So I- I've asked my...old acquaintance to come pick Maggy up for us. For them."

"Very good, Miss Rynon. All right, then; we'll let Ms. Zang through."

"Alright...g-good. Thank you."

The woman turned on heel and strode through the doors, into a colorful hallway. "That wasn't so difficult, was it?"

"You're going to bring her to me. And you're going to let me talk to her - she won't go with you if I don't."

"Of course."

"Then you bring her to me. To us. And nothing else. And after that, you get out of my life again. For good. You're immortal; surely you can restrain yourself for another few decades until I'm dead and gone."

"Such hatred," the woman remarked, disapproving. She paused, then pushed through a door on her right. "Best get rid of it; wouldn't want little Maggy thinking you're upset with her, yes?"

A sharp breath over the scroll call.

The woman glided around groups of little ones playing games, drawing and babbling to one another - a heartachingly familiar sight (for she'd once had her own little gaggle of babbling girls before, the one real remorse she would carry with her for her eternal life on Remnant - and one she carried a hundred times more intensely these past two years now in particular, since her de-grimmification at the hands of Ruby Rose).

"Hello; Lilith Zang - I'm authorized by Cinder Rynon to pick up Maggy for her. I have her right here on the line for you if you need to speak to her."

"We're having a bit of- trouble- and I asked her to pick her up for us," Cinder affirmed.

"Very good, then." The educator gave a nod and a smile, then settled his gaze on a particular girl shrieking with laughter in a corner with two others. He led the woman over. "Maggy, it's time for you to go home now. Ms. Zang is here for you."

The girl looked the woman over, gazed into her face of soft eyes and softer smile. She shook her head. "Not Emmy or Neo!"

"No, she's not, sweetie," Cinder's voice came loudly over the scroll. "But I asked her to come pick you up for me. She's- an old- friend. Okay? So you go with her, you let her bring you to me. Emerald and Neo are...Neo is sick, okay? And Emerald is- busy. They can't pick you up. They can't take you home. So that means you have to let Lilith bring you to us. All right, sweetie? Maggy?"

"Neo is sick?" The child's face twisted with worry. "Is she gonna get better?"

"We hope so," Cinder said quickly. "That's why Lilith is going to bring you to me and Flora. Okay, please? Just go with her. She'll take _very good care of you_. Or she'll be hearing from me."

"Oh, Cinder, I was a mother once myself - to four girls, not much older than Maggy here. I'm certain I can take wonderful care of her."

"Right - you _were_."

The woman let out a sigh and lowered herself to her knees. "Come along now, sweetheart - let's get you back to your mommies, all right?" She offered her arms.

"Go with her, Maggy. She's a- friend. She's very...nice. She'll _be good to you_."

"Ok mommy." The girl stepped into the woman's arms.

The woman held her in her arms as she stood, instinctual and proper - muscle memory of millennia ago returning to her in an instant - along with a wave of emotion, overpowering as any destructive grimm desires, that she'd never imagined _she would_ feel again after millennia untold. For those very grimm desires had been overwhelming all else - sheer clarity of mind included - for so long now, that she had quite forgotten... Yes, she had forgotten all these things - Ozma had been right. And it was honestly a great _relief_ to be standing here feeling them again in full, so pure and true. A hand to back of head, an arm under to support. A lovely fragrance in her nose, a warm little body clutching to hers... "Very good, sweetheart. Thank you for being so good for me! Now let's get you to mommy again - safe and sound." The words came to her drifting out of ancient memories, the tones adopted once again with ease.

Salem left the daycare with Maggy in her willing embrace, thinking that she would not have minded _this_ being her new eternity.

For once, so long ago, even in all her grimm desires, when she'd held four separate girls in her arms like this...she had had the very same thoughts as she was now - before they'd been swallowed up and swept away by the darkness again.


	6. Exes and O's

Salem took every step through Mantle's run down streets with caution. Her every magical sense attuned, her eyes inspecting the world without moving her head.

They were here, still - following _her_. Observing _her_.

A glimpse of shadow down an alley, high on a wall behind fluttering banner...

Just waiting for their opportunity to snatch away the girl currently in Salem's arms.

They seemed quite set on that, for reasons unknown.

Well, perhaps Cinder knew; Salem _might_ be able to get it out of her, after some teeth-pulling. Salem had just known that becoming a Maiden and striking off on her own would do no good for that girl's more _difficult_ personality aspects. And she hadn't been wrong: Cinder had become the height of obstinate, among other things. And, as humanity itself was prone to, Cinder would doubtless also be much more _bold_ due to being surrounded by her powerful allies and friends now - which included dear Ozpin (perhaps another reason why Salem was taking her every step toward Emerald's residence with a certain _slowness_ ).

Salem sighed, shifting the child in her arms and crossing another intersection - it wasn't far now. Only a few more blocks.

As much as being ordinarily human again had uncovered many forgotten treasures of soul and memory, it had also brought with it all the old trappings. The sharpness of things like joy and love in her again were welcomed, but the stabbing pain of bitterness and sorrow were not. And nor were the mind's cutting contents welcome either; Salem sorely missed how everything inside herself had been so blunted and numbed when immersed in grimm essence. All emotion distant, all memory nothing but fog, and all feeling or desire or even _thought_...snuffed out by the roaring flames of destruction and chaos.

Everything was so... _present_ again. As if Salem had been, all this time, drowning still in that grimm pool - under the waters, taking it into her lungs, filling her head with smog. As if she had never even gotten out of it, millions upon millions of years ago now.

Color, light, sound, and smell, too, were all now so crystal clear; it wasn't only what was in Salem's mind and soul that had returned with powerful vengeance - for better or for worse.

Salem had felt more alert and aware of herself and the world around her these past two years than she had in _millions of years past_.

In some moments, gratitude would rise toward Oz- Ozma and Cinder, for that plan, for this happening. Inexplicable emotion.

While in others, Salem had felt like breaking down as she hadn't done in a long time now, cursing them for making her _feel all of this again_! A cruelty worse than anything Ozpin had done to her before in history.

Immortality was easier to deal with when one did not _feel_ every moment of it, in such incredible clarity that was the clarity of _living_ itself.

And Salem still did very much physically feel things now, human again, even immortality aside: an itch, a stub of a toe, the chill of cold wind, rough concrete under her feet - all of that, she felt now again.

But she also felt every inch of the child's body clinging to hers. She felt those arms around her neck, that face buried in her chest, that warmth, her nose inhaled the fragrance, her eyes noted the way her hair caught the sunlight...

And so many other, long forgotten, intrusive memories would come rushing to the surface again.

Humanity itself was its own blessing and curse, Salem thought. Long ago she had yearned for the blessings - the freedom to experience it all! And with the man she'd loved! But a bit less longer ago, she'd given up on all of that, and given in entirely to the urges to tear it all apart and burn it to the ground.

Was she now, again, yearning?

_Oh, yes. Damn you, Ozpin...and you too, Cinder - why did you have to go and get such high ideas about yourself?_

Salem's fault, perhaps, she conceded; she had indulged that girl one too many times, hadn't she? Bolstered her ego with such kind, lofty words. An ego just waiting to sprout at the slightest tending - but now it had become quite overgrown. And now Salem had to deal with the results of her own actions.

 _Ugh._ Dealing with Cinder was going to take considerable patience.

Salem had no illusions about being able to just disappear after returning Cinder's lovely daughter to her - the second Salem opened that door at destination, no one was going to let her walk away.

But neither could Salem just _force_ a way out again; that would alert all of Mantle, alert the General, that she was here and active again. Currently she was getting by on the utter anonymity of her human appearance, but once that was gone...life would get very annoying. Salem wouldn't be able to go anywhere on Remnant without being recognized - and attacked. Or even captured. Salem, unlike Cinder, had no such ego problems; she knew she could be caught, and even locked away somewhere. And if that were to happen...

It could _never_ happen again. Salem had spent her formative years locked away - and it was those years she would _never_ return to, above all else. No matter what she had to do in this world!

So then...Salem would have to continue to make nice. Not only for the sake of a chance at keeping freedom, but also because she was quite willing to take a leaf from humanity's book (and her old one, once), and band together with whom she could in face of a powerful threat returned to the world. Especially since she had absolutely zero number of followers right now to fight it _herself_ , and certainly no more hordes of powerful and creatively designed grimm!

Yes, when common interests aligned, you could always count on people to set aside grudges or other concerns. At least temporarily.

And that would be to Salem's advantage in the current...crisis.

For it _was_ a crisis that had once before, and could again, affect her. She was immortal, not invincible, and the twisted magic and power of these so-called Ascendants was very much something strong enough to affect her without _killing her_.

In fact...it was their utterly unique ability to infect and turn humans into more of their kind, to warp their very minds to their cause, to servitude...that had Salem downright _scared_. For that was the ultimate removal of freedom - freedom of _mind_ and _soul_! Slaved to another, even if it was the complete opposite of anything she'd ever wanted or thought! Her mind was human, her will was not godly, and it _could_ be forcibly altered just as anyone else on Remnant's could by those deluded monsters. They had, centuries ago, even taken several of her most loyal followers from her - and learned all about her in the process. They had even taken some of her _grimm_!

Back then, Salem had been happy to fortify herself, hide away, and sit back and watch Ozpin find a way to deal with them all - after all, he had access to the godly Relics. And he had devised a means of doing away with them, as she had trusted in him to do so (whatever else Salem thought of the man, she knew her ex-husband was a resourceful and clever one).

But that was not an option _now_ , today; they were aware of her, they were here, they were watching her. And _they could take her!_ Acquiring an immortal magical being such as her was _not_ something she could allow! Though she was now too far involved to just flee and hide again - what walls would she hide behind? What grimm could she call on to surround her? What followers could she even name to defend her with human intelligence and strategy?

No matter what angle Salem looked at it, her only real chance of making it through this crisis was to ally herself with all those who opposed her.

And she was _not_ Cinder! She had no issue with doing so, it was not some great trouble to humble herself, to ingratiate herself with those who were against her; hence why she _had_ come all this way into Mantle, risking following the monsters she detected with her magic, and risking sticking out her immortal neck for the little girl presently clinging to it. If favor could be curried with their lot...she would curry it to hell and back. And she had seized her prime opportunity to do so.

Salem stroked Maggy's hair, threading her fingers through it. That favor could only be attained if this child was delivered safe and sound - not a hair out of place.

_She really is quite cute. Not too much trouble, not like- she's more like how- stop it!_

Salem bit her immortal tongue, hard enough she would have bled into her own mouth were she still capable of doing so.

Her chest heaved, her throat was threatening to block itself off.

_Damnit! Damn you for this, Ozpin!_

Though she felt the presence of the Order's watchers, Salem fortunately did not encounter them - they didn't show themselves.

Perhaps, wisely, they felt caution in face of an immortal foe was best.

Salem was just glad for her advantage in that regard; she was well aware that reputation and the unknown could get you far more than any direct act or word. So long as you carried yourself with utter confidence, your enemies would be hesitant to make the first move. They would doubt.

Although the Order had assimilated the knowledge of her from her followers centuries ago, they could not know what her followers had not known: Salem's direct power and capabilities, and of course her ancient history as well.

They seemed not to be too willing to challenge that - how right they were.

Salem moved up the steps with grace, entered the building. She found the right door - shifted the child in her arms - and knocked softly.

Salem was met with two powered up Maidens, a fledgling assassin, a drunken huntsman, a lovely but ordinary young woman, and...her ex-husband (only that last one would be any sort of _problem_ for Salem).

Cinder stepped forward immediately, holding out her arms.

Salem handed the girl over - watched as Cinder and her partner retreated with the child to the far side of the room and began checking her over with concerned eyes. "She's completely unharmed," she spoke, resisting the urge to roll _her_ eyes.

Surprisingly, it was Cinder's partner who glared at her and imparted a hateful shot. "Sorry if we don't want to just take the _she-devil's_ word for it."

Salem offered a soft smile in return, and turned her attentions to Ozpin - who was masterfully sliding himself directly in front of her. "Ozpin, dear - tell me - over the course of our millions of years old relationship, have you ever known me to be needlessly cruel towards children? Particularly small, helpless ones hardly out of infancy?"

Ozpin gazed at her, level. He shook his head slowly. "No. And I trust that in this situation, you would be wise enough not to be," he added, with a certain...tone.

Salem snorted her irritation. He knew her as well as ever, indeed - as well as she knew _him_ still. She gazed at Emerald, catching the girl's quivering eye. "Emerald - child - would it be too much trouble to ask for a seat?" She gestured to the sofa. "It was quite a long walk."

"Y-yes," the girl stammered. "G-go ahead!"

"Thank you, dear." Salem moved in a glide, amusement rising in her as she watched the way everyone shifted their positions in the room around her again - quite a defensive formation, wherein every piece was placed between herself and Maggy. As if she hadn't just spent the past half an hour escorting the child safely to this very apartment!

Salem settled, placing her hands in her lap.

She watched as Mercury Black and Flora Castella inched their way across her field of view and exited the apartment together.

"Where are they going?" Salem asked innocently.

"To retrieve Cinder and Flora's _other_ child," Ozpin stated.

"Had I known the other was still out there, I would have done that for you as well," Salem informed Cinder, smiling.

Cinder bowed her head, turning away. A hand came across her body, across the child in her arms, to grasp the _other_ arm - the grimm arm that housed her Maiden powers. It was rather unfortunate that Salem had lost her ability to track the girl through said arm, when she had lost her grimm essence to the Silver Eyes. But normal means of deduction and intellect would simply have to suffice going forward.

Salem's smile solidified as satisfaction bloomed in her chest; perhaps she could still check the girl's ego after all.

"Now, then," Ozpin began, grasping his cane before him as he swept his gaze around the room. "as we were just discussing together - in lieu of acts of god, or godly artifacts, we need to devise a means of quickly locating the active members of the Order on Remnant. However, we do not know how many transformed Order members there are - how many were left behind centuries ago, or how many they may have turned in the time since. Though, it cannot be more than a dozen or two, I would surmise; they wouldn't have been able to stay under my radar for so long were it otherwise." He gave Salem a look. "Nor yours, either, I presume."

"That's right," Salem said serenely.

"But we know the ones we know," Cinder spoke. "And the ones we know...we can kill _them_. We'll use me - draw them out for me _first_ \- and then we destroy them. We can go from there, figure out a next move afterwards."

"And Neo?" Emerald asked quietly. "The ones they took? I don't see how we can get them back without...without the Relics. It has to be worth the risk!" Pleading eyes were turned on Ozpin.

Ozpin's gaze flickered to Salem. "A risk now increased tenfold; I am sorry, but I simply will not risk any of the Relics - not when I only just finished hiding them, in a very new, very time-consuming manner."

"Oh, Ozpin, dear," Salem sighed. "if those Relics will enable the total or near-total destruction of the Order at long last, and all their active members, I would be happy to give you my word that I won't try to steal one of them away during the conflict."

Ozpin stared at her with utter scrutiny. "And your word is worth something again?"

Salem drew a long breath - let it go. She smiled beautifully. "Was it ever not? As I told young Cinder there - have I _ever_ lied, about a single thing in life? To anyone?"

"No," Ozpin admitted. "But you have omitted certain details before to suit your own ends - to paint a rather different picture of the truth."

"And you haven't done the same?" Salem retorted, an edge to her voice now. She scoffed. "You lie to your own flock, whereas I tell mine nothing but the truth from the beginning. Perhaps that is why mine are always so faithful - and yours, so eager to turn to me."

"That people are more easily drawn to individual promises and lofty words than general goals and broad sentiments is not a surprise," Ozpin replied evenly. "It is simply nature."

"Yes, it is," Salem agreed, laughing genuinely. "And I've always been the better of the two of us when it comes to appealing to that nature, haven't I?"

"Quite a bit better, yes, my dear." A tiny smile quirked at Ozma's lips - Ozpin's. "Something that has irritated me to no end these past millennia."

"I'm so pleased to hear that - I've been doing my best, _dear_."

"Hey, grandpa and grandma, can we get back to the planning, or do you want to bicker like an old married couple until the literal end of time?" Qrow said loudly.

Salem seethed. "You-"

Ozpin chuckled. "Well, as you are aware, we _were_. Or, we might even still be - we never did go through the proper legal channels to end that union, did we?" He cast a sidelong look at Salem; she responded with a burning look. Ozpin cleared his throat, glanced away. "Yes, well...ahem...Cinder, I suppose your plan is as good as any - draw them out, hope to destroy them quickly. Figure out where to go from there. Perhaps hope that they send our stolen friends after us next, so that we might capture and contain them until we can change them back to normal."

"With the Relic?" Cinder asked.

Ozpin gave yet another look to Salem. "Perhaps. We still lack so much information, and I do not believe the situation is that desperate yet." He paused. "Though, there might be a way to gain more information. If we were capable of tracking their movements, their locations around Remnant, we could potentially locate any bases of operations. Of course, another method would be similar to the one suggested by Cinder already, but in reverse: to use her as the prime bait, allow them to take her - take her where they will - and follow her right to them."

"It's fortunate that I still possess all of my magical capabilities," Salem spoke with relish. "I'm entirely capable of discerning their movements - and potentially even their standing locations."

"I was hoping you would still be capable of such a thing." Ozpin inclined his head. "You are willing to aid us with that ability?"

"Would I be sitting here with you if I wasn't?" Salem responded, amused.

"Indeed. That's settled, then. Cinder - are you up for putting your plan into action sooner rather than later? We cannot allow them to continue holding the upper hand on us, the element of surprise, as it were. They are rather adept at that. We need to be the ones to catch them off-guard for once, unknown to them."

"Yes," Cinder said simply, a brief nod given.

"Excellent. Then we'll wait for the return of Mr. Black and Ms. Castella, and put that plan into immediate action. The frozen tundras beyond Mantle should do quite nicely as an isolated battlefield; the chances of any unwanted casualties or collateral will be next to zero." Ozpin hesitated. "I say next to zero, because I still recommend keeping your children at your side at all times. Would you be willing to bring them out there with us, or would you rather risk leaving them here with someone else as bodyguard?"

"I- I'll bring them with us," Cinder said slowly. "But you all...you need to _die_ for them if you have to! If it looks like the Order is going to take them - you _die_! Are we _clear_?" Scorching amber eye burned into them all, wildly switching targets.

"Well, sadly, that's something I'm physically incapable of doing," Salem sighed melodramatically. "But I'll certainly do all I can to protect the lives of those girls."

Cinder looked at her in particular with a wary, fearful eye before looking away again. Not a word said.

_What delightful lack of attitude!_

* * *

After Mercury and Flora's return with Bae, they were informed of the impromptu, best-they-had-plan to gain some breathing room against the Order.

Cinder made sure Bae and Maggy were dressed up in several layers of winter clothing, and then their group took Emerald's truck out of Mantle.

Straight toward the mountains, into open snow.

Two miles out from Mantle, they stopped, and they all disembarked.

And waited.

Mercury leaned against the truck with his arms crossed; Qrow had shoved his hands in his pockets and hunkered over; Emerald was sitting in the truck's cabin, entertaining Maggy in her lap; Salem and Ozpin were standing rather close together, and trying their best not to look as if they were; Cinder and Flora were leaning against one another, arms protectively wrapped around Bae.

It didn't take long for the familiar magical shadows to begin to appear on the ground. A dozen feet out in front of the group, two familiar figures rose up and materialized: Lisume and Darbron.

The pair were in their normal human forms. Not the monsters they all knew they could become in an instant.

"Are you all ready to join us now?" Lisume began, calling softly across the distance.

Cinder stepped forward as Flora and Bae moved back behind the vehicle. Emerald had relieved herself of Maggy (had given her to a surprisingly well-coordinated Qrow); she stepped out of her truck and slowly came striding around it to stand at Cinder's side.

"I might be," Cinder lied, setting hand on hip. "This is all just getting...exhausting by this point," she went on - not a lie. Not that part. Not at all.

"It has been a merry game of back and forth, and chases aplenty, hasn't it," spoke Darbron, his voice nothing but humorous and hearty - like it was all just...well, he said it: a _game_. "But it really should end."

Cinder allowed herself a smirk, broad and true. "I'm wondering..."

"Yes?" Darbron said patiently.

"Would you have time for one more game?"

"All right, were you practicing _that one_ in your head the whole drive out here?" Flora exclaimed.

"Wha- Flora- n-no! It just came to me!" Cinder retorted, face hot. "I'm just that good at it by now!" _Usually..._

"Oh, I believe you!" Flora said earnestly.

"So then - you're willing to come along with us now?" Darbron spoke clearly - though he had amused eyebrows raised.

 _Goddamnit, Flora, you ruined it._ "I-" _No, not a good jumping off point. How about- Aha!_ "What I'm _willing to do is...this!"_ _Ugh, not my best, but screw it!_

Cinder and Emerald surged their powers together to their full heights: in seconds they were forming a swirling tornado that sparkled with electricity within, and was wrapped up in a layer of pure liquid magma. Rock pillars burst from under Lisume and Darbron's feet, launching them into the tornado. The winds took them higher and higher, shocking and immobilizing them as they went, melting them when they tried desperately to emerge from the sides of it; monstrous arms burst forth before being dragged back in again with roaring and screaming that flanged.

Cinder gave Emerald a nod, and the two Maidens flew straight up into the air.

Together they soared higher, and higher still - keeping pace with Darbron and Lisume as the monsters made their way up the tornado's deadly interior.

They sporadically blasted flames and ice into the tornado, adding to the mix along the way to the heavens.

They intensified the spin of the tornado to hundreds of miles per hour, and then the pair flung their arms high - sending the monsters flying right up out the top of it, to disappear into the clouds.

Cinder seized Emerald's hand, the two combining their fire power to soar above the clouds themselves.

Darbron and Lisume had reached the height of their arc just as Cinder and Emerald burst out of fluffy whiteness into a beautiful new world (one Cinder couldn't take time to appreciate).

Cinder formed a flaming sword, twelve feet long. Emerald extended her hands toward Darbron and Lisume, enveloping them in a cocoon of wind, holding them in the air and wildly spinning them about, slamming them into each other haphazardly.

Cinder launched herself forward, slashing through both monsters in one swing with a burst of speed. She twisted around in the air and flew back the other way, slicing through again. She did it a third and final time. The monsters were now in four pieces each. Eight big pieces of matter.

Emerald clenched her fists and separated the wind sphere into four separate ones, splitting off the pieces from each other.

Tendrils emerged from the pieces, soaring out for the others, trying to rejoin, reconnect...repair.

Emerald narrowed her eyes; the tendrils flash-froze, and shattered.

Cinder soared higher than ever, cold biting at her, lungs straining to take in air. But she flew on, on and on.

She hovered and focused her mind - her flaming sword became a flaming chainsaw with magma coating, flowing in circuit like the fiercest of rivers.

Cinder flipped herself upside down and flew for the nearest piece - almost directly below herself.

She readied her weapon, bracing herself against the winds...and she brought it down in a mighty cleaving motion as she passed!

It ripped right through, leaving magma residue behind. The magma spread across the monster's flesh, coating it, and filling it up inside as well.

Cinder watched with critical eye as the two pieces dissolved completely.

Emerald gave her wrist a twirl, and the magma expanded to fill the entire sphere of wind, swirling around rapidly for several long moments. A flick of a finger and it at last dissipated. Emerald looked at Cinder with uncertainty.

Cinder gave a nod; Emerald let the wind sphere go, turning her attention to maintaining the other three.

They repeated the process three more times, and then finally descended to the frozen ground again, passing once more through the clouds.

The pair landed heavily before their group, supporting each other.

"Are you okay?" Flora was rushing forward immediately, reaching for Cinder.

"You did it, didn't you?" Bae asked, wide eyed and grinning.

Cinder smirked despite her labored breathing. "We did it. Now all that's left is my mother."

"As far as we know," Flora agreed. "I hope to gods it is; we need to end this already."

"We will," Cinder assured. "We made a good first step today."

"So, what now?" Emerald asked, eyes rapt to Cinder as ever.

"I would say we waste no time in initiating the next phase of the plan," Ozpin spoke up, earning Cinder's glare. "You _do_ want this to all end as soon as possible, don't you?" he added delicately.

"I- y-yes..." Cinder murmured. Thing was, she wasn't exactly eager to just totally give herself up to the people desperate to kidnap her. To use her as some tool, some item, some way, to open up a dimensional seal. Whatever that involved, it couldn't be painless, could it? And they weren't going to just trust her to keep her weapons, power, or even her sense of self - would they? They'd take her, turn her, probably the first chance they got. And that terrified Cinder.

"Well then," said Ozpin. "I suggest we all return to Mantle proper - a brief respite seems in order after our victory here. Particularly for the little ones among us with no Aura to protect from this dreadful chill."

"Right, let's go!" Cinder snagged Bae's hand and climbed into the truck with her, pulling her tight into her arms.

"H-hey-"

"You're not feeling too cold, are you? You're okay?" Cinder pressed - pressing herself to the girl.

"It's not too bad. I've been out here longer watching you and Flora do your fights before!"

"Not too bad?" Cinder repeated, alarmed. "Then it's still _bad_!" She focused her powers, creating a swirl of warm air to circulate around them with a little dash of Maiden magic.

"It really wasn't _that bad_...I'm not gonna die or anything! My butt's not freezing off."

"It's supposed to be my job to make sure it doesn't!" Cinder said firmly. "Emerald - make more heat!"

"Of course!" Emerald's eyes flashed briefly of dark green fires; another gust of wind filled the cabin. "How's that?"

"How is it now?" Cinder demanded of Bae.

"It's _fine_ , mom, alright!"

Cinder's lips quirked. "So it's fine now? Good. You tell me if it's _not_ fine again."

"I will! Promise!"

"You're nearly as bad as I was when I first became a father," spoke Ozpin, seating himself with cane across his lap. He gave a look to Salem, who was looking uncomfortable being squished against Ozpin so soundly. "Wasn't I, dear? When we had our first - Endora? You remember? I was like a chicken without his head." He chuckled to himself. "Wasn't I? Salem?"

Salem gave him a quizzical look. A strange mix of emotions crossed her features. She looked away. "Yes...I- recall those years, fleeting as they were for us."

"Oh, splendid. I was worried you'd truly forgotten those times. Forgotten them. Her - Endora. Do you remember why you chose that name?"

"I haven't forgotten! I merely prefer not to think about them!" Salem snapped. "Stop making me think about them."

"But are they not just as immortal as we are, so long as we cherish those memories? Hold them in our hearts?"

"Stop."

"So you don't remember why you picked out that name for our daughter?"

"I said I remember it; I just have no wish to revisit the most painful memories of my life!" Salem burst out.

"Yes, well, you've always been very skilled at pushing away anything that would remind you of your mistakes and failures. Has there never been even one time in your life so far that you just admitted, even to yourself, that you might have made one along the way somewhere?"

"Stop talking." Salem twisted away bodily, putting her head on the window.

"Would you consider what you did to our children a mistake worthy of admitting to? Don't you miss them at all, regret what happened at all...?" Ozpin's voice was strained, and quiet. Almost desperate.

Silence filled the vehicle.

Out in the back, Qrow and Mercury looked ready to just jump out of the truck bed at the first explosion.

Then the answer came, in a single, whispered word.

"Yes..."

The entire group let out a collective breath; the ride back into Mantle was one that wasn't going to involve ancient immortals blowing up the entire vehicle in a rage.

In past the wall, onto the busy streets again. Familiar locales, familiar noises and smells.

Cinder felt a lot more at ease.

Especially since the plan _had_ gone off so well.

They even made it back to Emerald's apartment without incident.

It was when they were all unloading themselves out front of the building that the retaliation came for them.

It started as nothing but more background noise - the sounds of motorbikes roaring down the street.

It was nothing to pay attention to - why would it be?

Until they blew past the group, and suddenly Bae wasn't even standing next to Cinder anymore!

Cinder whirled, and slammed right into something solid and invisible - a pane of glass, which immediately shattered.

In slow motion of heightened perception, Cinder's eye narrowed in on the bikes, tracking them. She processed who the riders were - Neo, Blake, and Miltia - and processed just who it was that one of them had clutched in an arm ( _very dangerously!_ ).

A voice called to her, high and desperate in whipping wind: "Mom, help!"

Cinder bent her knees and rocketed after them, full force, eyes burning to life.

Under magic brainwashing or not, Cinder _was not_ letting them get away with Bae! Magical brainwashing or not, if any one of those three _hurt her_...Cinder was going to kill them! Hell, she might still kill them anyways for this!

Cinder roared down the streets of Mantle, swerving right, left, left again - right down an alleyway. The trio of bikes blew across the next street, into another alley without stopping or caring. Cinder flew after them, also without caring much about anyone else in the world.

Where the hell did they expect to _go_? What were they even _doing_? Why like this? Could they not utilize those shadow bridges? Those portals? No, they could - Emerald had said Neo could, Qrow and Flora had said they saw Blake use one too. And Mercury had said Miltia had done it too!

So what the hell were they doing on fucking motorbikes, racing all over Mantle?!

 _Distraction,_ the thought came to her, churning her stomach. _It's a diversion - likely to get at someone I left behind back there._ But whoever it was, Cinder assured herself, they'd have a hell of a time getting at them when there was a Maiden and two immortals on the scene. If it was to try for Maggy again, or even Flora...

Cinder had to- she had to _trust_ the allies she had.

And focus on what she had to do right now: get Bae back safely.

It was, as her therapist was constantly reminding her, _out of her control_. And she had to accept that, and implement coping mechanisms if necessary.

Cinder had an unorthodox coping mechanism for this one, she thought: beating the shit out of her brainwashed friends. She always did enjoy a good fight - her skill and power were reassuring ways of telling her mind she was still the one in control. Of something, of anything.

So she _would_ be the one in control of this situation now! She would _take_ control! _Get control!_

Cinder chased the trio down into an underground tunnel that ran the length of Mantle, one end to the other.

Miltia suddenly slowed, closing in on Cinder and slashing for her with her claws.

Cinder twisted away and kicked out at her, sending her into the wall.

She flew on for Neo and Blake, catching up to them in seconds.

Cinder engaged Blake with twin blades formed, slashing and twirling over her head to the other side, blasting out with flames that made her pop the front wheel and fall back to avoid it, fear and panic in her eyes. Cinder would have felt guilty if the girl were her normal self - but she wasn't, so Cinder refused to!

All the while, Miltia had been slowly gaining ground on her.

Miltia hopped up to stand on the bike and began slashing for her.

Cinder blocked her strikes and redirected a few, and then she gave the side of the bike a nice hard kick; Miltia leapt off of it and onto Cinder's back, arms around her neck - claws to her throat.

Cinder went into a violent series of spins, which, when they didn't shake the girl off her, had her opt for another tactic instead.

She exploded Maiden winds out of her body, blasting the girl off her to slam face-first into the tunnel wall.

Cinder flew on for Neo and Blake again with renewed speed, and focus.

Blake slowed to meet her, as Neo went on with Bae for the end of the tunnel and the ramp up to street level.

Cinder reached out a hand and pulsed her palm with ice, freezing the wheels of Blake's bike.

Blake leapt straight off it, flying for Cinder head on. She Shadow Cloned and twisted, slashing her blade; an Aura beam came lancing out. And then another, and a third, and a fourth, and a fifth! A final sixth, smaller than the rest.

Cinder swerved and dipped to avoid them all, but there were a few narrow misses that had her cursing.

Blake landed on her feet in the tunnel, her keen eyes zeroed in on the rapidly approaching Cinder.

Cinder thrust out a hand and sent a wave of wind down the tunnel.

Blake backflipped and planted her feet on the ceiling, and then she came rocketing down for Cinder as she passed.

Cinder moved aside, but something tugged hard on her leg - Blake's ribbon was wrapped tight around her ankle. Blake herself was dragged along through the air after her, her face determined.

Blake hurled another Aura beam at Cinder, much closer in range this time.

Harder to dodge.

Cinder swerved wildly to the left, then right again, yanking Blake this way and that.

She twisted around and slashed a flaming sword for the ribbon, cutting it loose.

She sent another gust of wind at Blake for good measure, and then flew on for Neo.

Neo, who had disappeared from sight!

Cinder soared up to the street again, and then on higher - above the buildings.

She frantically scanned the area, and then she saw her! Neo was going left, for the edge of the city.

For open tundra.

Well, not quite - on this side of mantle, there were plenty of hills and dips, overall rather rough terrain leading into the close by mountain range.

Did Neo hope to extend this chase into the mountains?

Cinder wouldn't let her get that far! Not with Bae; Bae, who could freeze in minutes out here without any Aura!

_Time to end this!_

Cinder rocketed after Neo, gaining on her swiftly, swooping down on her as they reached city's edge.

Neo glanced over a shoulder at her, and flashed a smirk. Her eyes were alight with excitement.

Like this was a game - like Bae's _life_ was a game!

Cinder bore down on her with her arms extended, flaring her powers as precisely as she could in rapid succession: the bike froze over; a gust of wind swept up Neo and Bae, lifting them off of it; and a small coating of magma shrouded Neo's shoulder.

Neo screamed, her arm immediately and instinctually unwrapping itself from around Bae, letting her go free in the wild winds.

Cinder burst forward and tackled Bae with a regrettable amount of force, blasting on past Neo into the open snow plains.

She hit, did her best to skid to a stop and spin around, bringing a blade up.

It was a very good thing she did: Neo was flying for her, having freed herself of the winds with an Aura burst, a cruel grin on her face.

The blade from her umbrella was out and at the ready.

Cinder blocked a strike, shoved Bae behind herself - brought her knee up into Neo's gut, blasted wind out a palm to send her flying back again!

Neo flipped through the air and hit the snow a dozen feet away...and _shattered_.

The real Neo was racing around Cinder, heading for Bae.

Cinder turned and stomped a foot; the ice on the ground erupted to ensnare Neo up to her neck.

Neo burst with Aura, sending icy fragments flying, and lunged for Bae again.

Cinder flew to intercept her, tackling her bodily.

They rolled, tumbling and slashing and hitting.

Cinder shoved her fist into Neo's gut and erupted flames out of it.

Neo's Aura burned through, and then so did her stomach.

Flames blew out of her back, scorching and smelling something awful.

Neo clutched her wound, falling back and gasping.

Cinder punched her in the face, then she grabbed her face in hand and flash-froze her again. From head to toe this time.

She didn't waste a second in turning to Bae, grabbing her up in her arms and soaring high into the sky with her.

"You s-saved m-me, I k-k-knew you'd s-save me!" Bae was chattering at her - trembling in her arms like mad. "I knew you'd k-keep your p-promise!"

"You're cold again!"

"It's n-not-"

"Don't talk; I'll fix that!"

"Ok."

"Did I hurt you back there? When I- are you bruised, or bleeding, did you hit your head?"

"N-no! I'm t-totally fine!"

"Are you _sure_?"

"Y-yes!"

"I'm still checking you when we land."

"Y-you d-don't have t-to-"

"Yes I do," Cinder snorted. "I'm not your mom for nothing, am I? Or do you think I just like the sound of the word?"

"Ok, ok - you can check it! B-but it's not that-"

"Everything with you _isn't that bad_ \- god knows why! I'll decide if it is or not!"

"Ok...t-thanks mom."

"You're welcome - sweetie. I- love you. I just love you, a lot. So, so much, really."

"I know."


	7. Parents And Children

Cinder soared down for the street and hurried right into Emerald's apartment, clutching Bae's hand and dragging her along at probably too quick a pace for the poor girl.

Immediately upon entering, she spotted something _very wrong_.

Everything wrong.

Every single person was laid out on the floor of the living room, unmoving.

And Maggy wasn't among them.

"M-mom, w-what happened to everyone?"

" _Stay back._ " Cinder shoved Bae back and ignited her Maiden flames, stepping further into the room.

She scanned it swiftly with eye alone, listening intently. Nothing, no one.

She went for Flora, dropping down next to her and reaching for a wrist. _A pulse._ She checked the neck, and the chest too, just to be triply certain that _she wasn't_ -

Flora's heart was still beating.

She didn't seem hurt, nobody did - just...like they were all in a really deep sleep.

Cinder pulled Flora into her arms, shaking her. "Flora, w-wake up, come on - _wake up, right now! I can't- I don't know- please, please just open your eyes_!"

Flora's eyes fluttered. A groan escaped her lips. "Cinder? Did you- get Bae...?"

"Y-yes, but- Maggy- Maggy's gone, what happened, where is she?!"

Flora sat up immediately, looking around herself with wide eyes and a pale face. Hands came to her mouth. Her eyes closed again. "Oh gods, oh gods no..."

"Flora. What. Happened?"

"It was that bounty hunter again," Flora breathed. "Aisha - she- we were waiting for you to come back, and then some bomb or something came through the window, and then there was this big cloud of _gas_ filling up the room and then we all just- we couldn't even move - it was almost an instant paralysis - and then we all must have fallen unconscious after. But I don't even remember...What even was it?"

Cinder whirled around, stalking away to who knew where. "It doesn't _matter what it was, we need to find Maggy, right now_!"

"Cinder, you asked - and, please, calm down. Just breathe, just - coping methods, remember?"

" _You want me to fucking cope with-_ "

"Yes!" Flora said firmly, jumping to her feet. She stalked up to Cinder and grabbed her shoulders, looking her in the eye with _fire_. "Yes, I want you to try to breathe and _cope_ right now, because that's the only way we're getting Maggy back! Not by getting pissy with each other, or blowing up nice buildings, or flying off with some vague idea about killing people! We can make a plan! We can get her back! Just _calm down_! Breathe and _think for me_!"

Cinder's body trembled violently; her mouth worked in silence. The world spun and darkened, and her chest threatened to burst...

_Control, control, control...just breathe, just breathe...dammit, breathe!_

Cinder tore her arms out of Flora's grasp, stalked over to Ozpin and kicked him in the stomach. "Get up, wake up - fucking _get up right now_!" She stomped on his ribs, kicked him again. " _Now!_ "

"Cinder, that isn't being _calm_!"

"Well what do you want me to do? I can't fucking do it to Salem, can I?!"

"I want you to stop being an asshole and _sit down_!"

"I _am not being a-_ "

"You are! You get pissy and lose your shit when things spiral, and _I know that losing your three year old is as spirally as any situation has ever spiraled in the history of spiraling, but you need to get a grip and stop it already - you're scaring Bae._ "

Cinder froze. She glanced at the girl, who was eyeing her with wide eyes, standing there shaking on her own. Cinder tried to pull in another breath. She let it go, and whirled around and stomped over to Salem - and gave her a reckless kick.

Salem's eyes snapped open, and traveled up Cinder's figure. They narrowed. " _What_ do you think you're doing?" she said lowly, rising to her feet without even using her arms.

" _Why did I trust you people?! Any of you? I trusted Emerald and Neo, and look what happened: our house is destroyed! I trusted you -_ you - _and look. What. Happened: Maggy is gone! They took her, how the hell did they take her from you?! For someone who goes on so much about the usefulness of others, you were pretty useless to me when I actually needed you! When I actually thought for a second that I could even rely on you to-"_

Salem released a breath, standing very still. "You're clearly very emotionally disturbed - and so I'm going to assume that you just forgot who you were talking to here."

"I know exactly who I'm talking to!" Cinder roared in her face. "You - you - you're _just like them._ My stepmother who I couldn't ever rely on for anything good, my _birth mother_ who, turns out, I couldn't rely on for anything either! And then there's _you_. You fit right in with my mother figures in life! _You never did a single goddamn good thing for me in life!_ "

"Cinder, I understand-"

" _You don't understand a thing!_ " Cinder hissed. "You don't know what it's like to-"

"I think I understand far more than even _you_ ," Salem cut across coldly. "I've lost _four_."

Cinder laughed. "Right - the four that you killed yourself. Like that even _bothered you-_ "

Salem's hand came up - Cinder flinched - and she slapped Cinder across the face.

"Everyone: _enough_!" Ozpin shouted, climbing to his feet with cane for support. He stalked forward and put himself between Salem and Cinder, his expression hard. "We are all _very_ emotional right now, but we must remain _calm_. We cannot afford to have infighting at this stage, not when we only just achieved a victory over the enemy. Now, Cinder, you will offer an apology to Salem - and you, Salem, you _will_ apologize likewise for the slap. Do you understand me? Both of you?"

" _Of course_ ," Salem uttered. "As I said, Cinder: I understand that this is a very _stressful time for you_. But you still crossed quite a line. Apologize to me. _Now_."

" _I'm s-sorry!_ " Cinder stammered, high and choked, bowing her head.

"I forgive you - and I suppose I myself am sorry for striking you like that. I lost my own composure as well."

Ozpin gave them both a firm nod. "Good. Now, if we could turn our minds toward just how, exactly, we will go about tracking down and retrieving the child...the sooner we come up with a plan, the sooner we can put it into action."

"I have a plan," Cinder said, the words wrenched from depths of her soul. "I let myself get captured, and the rest of you can come and find me on your own time."

"And what are you going to do after you get captured?" Flora questioned. "They're going to do whatever they want to do with you - to break that seal and let out their forces - and then...maybe not even let you live after. Not as _you_ , anyways. I don't think they just put the essence and magic of their great leader into you from conception just to let it go to waste! Even if that soul of Mordeya's isn't doing anything _right now_ , doesn't mean it won't do anything _later!_ I don't want to have to meet up with you again and not recognize who I'm even looking at!"

"So, Imryll Mordeya's soul _is_ inside of you..." Salem spoke softly, gazing at Cinder with interest. A finger raised, flicked at Cinder's face; Cinder flinched again. "That eye of yours; I had wondered, ever since we first met..."

"I had wondered much the same," Ozpin put in, nodding. "It seems we were correct about her - after a fashion. Not quite a living, biological descendant..."

"Well, my one and only suggestion now would be that we kill you immediately, in order to prevent the Order from utilizing you as both a seal-breaker and a vessel for their primogenitor," Salem said bluntly. She paused. "But I _suspect_ that a number of people in this room would strongly object to that tactic."

"You're damn right we would," Flora responded sharply.

"Naturally," Salem replied, absent.

"Rest assured, Ms. Rynon, that no one will be taking your life from you," Ozpin said firmly. "I'm certain we can resolve this situation without needing to take such drastic measures. But we are going to need all hands on deck for this rescue mission. Qrow, if you would call the rest of Team RWBY, and inform them of the situation - Miss Xiao Long needs to be informed anyways, and she'll wish to help with a passion. Team JNPR as well. It is time they were all brought in on this. And, Ms. Rynon, if you could reach out to Hazel, he would be a great asset."

"Lastly, Qrow, if you are still in touch with your sister, it would be an appreciable increase in firepower to have the two other Maidens here with us again - I understand that she and the Summer Maiden have been spending their time together as of late. "

"I'll make some calls," Qrow nodded.

"And _you_ ," Cinder gritted at Ozpin. "You're going to get the Relic of Creation already and fix this! Fix Neo, fix Blake, fix Miltia! And then try and fix me! I'm done screwing around, I'm done waiting around - just fucking _do it already!_ If you're so worried about Salem taking them, tell her to go wait on another continent while you use it on this one! Putting an ocean between you two should make it safe enough for the all of five minutes it should take to zap my friends with it!"

Ozpin inclined his head at her, sighed. "Yes, I agree we are past the point where the safety of the Relics can remain absolute - or a priority. A risk must be taken if we are to end this before it can go any further. Especially if you are going to hand yourself right over to them like this, planned or not. Although, it is not the Relic of Creation that will save your friends - but the Sword of Destruction."

"Are you planning to kill them?" Cinder glared. "That isn't the kind of 'freeing' I had in mind!"

"Certainly not. Allow me to explain, if you would, how this will work." Ozpin shifted his stance.

"The Sword of Destruction can be used to destroy anything," he began quietly. "from living organisms, to objects and structures, and even certain things on a conceptual level - for example: you could eliminate the word 'apple' from existence, robbing it from every mind, book, and language. Or you could destroy certain memories of events or people, eliminating events, histories, or individuals from societal recollection. But that is the very thing about this Relic, its greatest danger in using it: it cannot do half measures. If you want to destroy a single ship in a fleet, you need to destroy the entire fleet. If you want to destroy a member of a family, it will kill every single living person in the immediate blood family. If you wish to erase a traumatic memory from a mind, all knowledge of it will be erased from every mind that knows about it, from the victim to the perpetrator, to their friends and family, and even to law enforcement and such - and any physical records will be wiped as well. Fortunately for us, our intent is to destroy the entirety of something: the Keshiri Plague that still permeates the bodies of people on Remnant. The catch...is that the blade must make physical contact with one sample of whatever it seeks to destroy - a single airship must be struck at, a family member must be attacked, or...for us...a single person infected with the Plague must be struck into by the blade. From there, it will spread to the rest, erasing every trace of it from the face of Remnant."

"And you never used it to do that three hundred years ago, why?" Cinder snarled, throwing up her hands. "You just locked thousands of monstrous cultists away in another dimension!"

"Because, there are two other catches to the Sword," Ozpin said carefully. "The first is that the act of destroying something is _permanent_. It can never be undone, not even by the other Relics. The Relic of Creation could create a copy of, say, an item you destroyed, but the original could _never_ be restored. A memory destroyed could never be recovered, not even a fragment. The second catch, and the more concerning one, is that the act of erasing the entirety of something from the face of this entire planet...requires an equal exchange, taken as payment by the Sword for its use."

"What do you mean? What does it take in return?"

"In return for destroying something utterly, and permanently, the Sword will permanently and utterly destroy the soul of the one who wielded it to do so."

"It kills you."

"It annihilates your very soul from existence. Forever."

"But you- you still couldn't use it?" Cinder pressed. "You're two souls in one body; if it only takes one soul-"

"You think me so monstrous, do you? So callous? That I'd sacrifice a host's life just to use the sword? Because I would be fine and well, reincarnated again after? No. In the thousands of years I've lived on Remnant, I have never once used the Sword personally - though, those who once sought the Relics have, for one reason or another. Selfish, misguided goals that turned to tragedy when the full power of the Sword was realized. And by then, it was too late. It was done, and permanent."

"But we're going to use it now," Cinder stated. She looked around the room. "So, who are we sacrificing? Who's going to be the one to do it? You? Or will you manipulate one of us into it?"

"Why don't we just make _her_ use it?" Flora sent a scathing look at Salem. "She can't even die - wouldn't she be immune? Survive it? Not that I'm rooting for her to."

"Highly likely, yes," Ozpin replied. "Her immortality was granted by the Gods themselves, whereas the Relics, while the most powerful artifacts of magic on this planet, still remain mere objects created by the Gods. They are still only a quarter of the power the Gods possessed. Perhaps even less. Although, it is likely Salem would survive it anyways for other reasons..."

"The Gods wouldn't have given me such an easy out," Salem said softly. "It would have been foolish to leave such relics behind here if I could have just used one of them to end this curse for myself."

"Precisely my thinking," Ozpin said, in an almost considerate voice. "At any rate, now you're all aware of just how dangerous it is to even use the Sword at all - even once. And yet, we will," he finished, with a nod at Cinder of reassurance. "We will do away with the Keshiri Plague, and with it, all the unique powers and properties possessed by those infected with it. The telepathic link between them should be torn apart as well - and so too, should the brainwashing effects be ended. Anyone afflicted with it should be rendered ordinary humans again."

"Should we use it before or after we find Maggy?" Flora asked. "If we do it before, they'd surely all suspect that we did _something_ to them, and they might..."

"They might hurt or kill her for it out of sheer spite," Cinder said flatly.

"I think your plan is a good one," Ozpin spoke. "You give yourself to them for the chance of freeing yourself and your child from the inside, while we ready ourselves for an assault from the outside. It will also give me the time to actually retrieve the Relic itself...and figure out the specifics as to who will be the one to use it once we arrive to free you."

"Just make Salem use it," Flora insisted venomously. "Either she can't die from it anyways, or she dies and we're rid of her forever. Either way, it doesn't matter - as long as it's her and not any of _us_."

"You really have so little regard for the value of my life..." Salem said idly.

"How many lives have you had any regard for?" Flora challenged furiously.

Salem appraised her with sharp eyes. "I honestly don't know by now."

Flora moved swiftly, to place herself right in front of Salem. Her hands were quivering fists at her sides.

" _Flora, don't!_ " Cinder cried, lunging to grab her arm. "Please, don't do-"

Flora shrugged her off, gave her a little push away. But her eyes were a touch soft. "I understand how scared you are of this bitch - I understand _why_ you're so scared - but you don't have to be. And neither do I."

"You know," Salem said softly, deadly. "Just because I've lost my former appearance does not mean I'm not still the same woman I always have been. Do not fool yourselves into thinking that I'm just some common human you can-"

"But that's exactly it," Flora hissed, interrupting Salem. Her Aura flared across her body, and she took another step in - bringing her face inches from Salem's. "You think you're some big, bad, high evil of darkness incarnate. Some great monster from horror stories! But you know what? You're not, and you never were, and you're never going to be. You know what you are?"

"What?" Salem spoke, managing to turn the one word into several dragging syllables.

"Just a fucked up woman," Flora answered, blasé. "Just another psychopath. Just another grandiose, egotistical, _lunatic_. You think you're special, different from any of a billion people who lived before you, and are going to live after you? They all think like you, they all do the same messed up things as you. All monsters, yes, but also all _humans_. Because monsters aren't monsters, they're just humans who are really screwed up in the head. And that...is all you are, sweetie: just another human with a screw loose in their head. And that doesn't make you better, or more, or greater - it makes you _lesser_ , and _pathetic_. You're dirt and scum compared to the rest of us, not some higher power lording above us. No matter how much you change yourself, no matter what kind of spooky reputation you want to build up, no matter what lengths you go to to appear like you're not - and I _know_ when a woman is doing this; I'm married to one who does the same thing! - you were born human, and you're going to die a human. Just a common human woman. A pitiful, _broken_ human woman at that. Defective. Because normal people? They don't think like you do, they don't do the things you do - but that's not anything _impressive_. You're not powerful, or different; you're just a flailing old lady desperately trying to look like you are, because you can't fucking cope with yourself, and how much fucked up shit you have going on in there. I mean _gods_ , give the world a break already. The whole 'I'm an evil queen, rawr!' act is just _silly_ ; you're like a little girl playing pretend. You're not scary, you're sad."

Flora paused, she breathed, heavy and harsh. "And that isn't even getting into how you're a manipulative, abusive piece of shit - to a woman who was already abused before in her life! And you did that anyways, you knew, you took advantage of it! And you don't even care how it makes her feel, how it makes her respond to you - how she reacts!"

Salem regarded Flora utterly impassive. Still as a statue. "Are you quite finished?"

Flora laughed in her face. "Not yet. I just have a bit of advice for you, Salem - advice that's worked pretty well for Cinder: drop the act for once, take a look inside at everything you have to fix in there, and go get some therapy."

Flora turned on her heel and stalked away, pulling Cinder along by the hand.

A hand that Cinder grasped in overwhelming terror, lest it be tugged away from her at any moment.

Flora squeezed back, and gave her a small grin.

* * *

After two impatient hours of preparations and waiting, the silence in Emerald's living room was broken by the voice of Salem.

Salem, who had been standing with a swirling crystal ball hovering in front of her, a look of concentration on her face, for those past two hours like it didn't even bother her to do so (it probably didn't, being immortal and all).

"Tyra Aryle is somewhere in the middle of Anima."

"Somewhere in the middle of Anima?" Flora repeated.

"I'll be able to be more precise in pinpointing her location the closer we get," Salem said casually, waving a hand.

Flora snorted and left the living room for the pristine kitchen.

Cinder followed after her, a tightness in her chest. "Flora, you need to stop, please..." she whispered, grasping her partner's hand tight. "Salem - she's going to-"

"She won't do anything as long as she's outnumbered," Flora interrupted. "She's a coward, and a bully, and an abuser, and a manipulator. She can't do anything without power or control over us - and she doesn't have any of that right now. We're the ones with power over _her_ ; she came to us, didn't she? Why? Because she's scared. She's scared of the Order. She's all alone, and she's scared. She's a manipulator with no one to manipulate, nothing to use - except to try and manipulate _herself_ into staying with us. Because if she's with us, we can protect her from the Order, and destroy them for her. She's using us as a shield right now. She's weak and selfish."

"Please stop...please..."

"Cinder, nothing bad is going to happen to me, okay?" Flora said firmly. "I know where you're coming from - _I know_ \- but you don't have anything to be afraid of. You don't have to be afraid of _her_ anymore. There's no reason to listen to her; she's not going to hurt us for not obeying her or anything. There's nothing she has over us, there's nothing she can do."

"B-but what if she-"

"But nothing! Just - nothing. You have to try to stop thinking of her as Salem the evil monster, Salem the lying abuser. Think of her as Salem the lowlife. Salem the desperate. Just some sad blondie who's clinging to the only protection she can get right now. She's not a dark queen - she's a mentally ill woman who needs some pills in her, and some long sessions in a psych ward with a trained therapist. She's just as much a screwed up human woman as you are - but the difference is that _you_ are _working on it_. You've been working on it for two years, every day of your life! She's not; she's still stuck glorifying it all, excusing it all, and justifying it all to herself. You moved out of that phase a long time ago. You're better than her, you're healthier than her, you're stronger than her. Don't ever let her make you doubt that again! Right now, _you_ have power over her! You have control over her. She's got nothing."

"Flora, _please_ -"

"Hell," Flora laughed. "you even potentially have control over the grimm with your Semblance still, and _she doesn't anymore_! Isn't that some nice irony? You could set them loose on her just like you did against your stepfamily, and she'd be helpless to stop it!"

"N-no, no, it's different, that was _different_! She's different! She's not my stepmother, she's-"

"She's not different," Flora said firmly.

"But she is, she is!"

"No. She's just really good at making people think that."

Cinder shut her eye and threw herself around Flora - buried her face in her shoulder. Why couldn't she make her understand! Why couldn't she get it?! " _She's not..._ "

A sigh. Flora patted her head, took up stroking her hair. "I'm so sorry you really still believe that. But I hope you'll realize soon enough that you don't have to."

Cinder pulled away, sighing herself. Drawing in a quivering breath. "I need to go to Maggy, I need to get her back. I have to see her. I have to know she's not...either made into one of them, or killed. I can't just stand around with everyone. Not me."

"The sooner you go, the better," Flora agreed quietly. "We'll all be there for you as soon as we can."

"I promise we'll get you out again," Emerald spoke, entering the kitchen with a fierce look on her face. She hesitated, then she was flinging herself at Cinder and hugging her. "You and Maggy!"

"T-thank you," Cinder told them both, offering a small smile - the best she could do at the moment. Plan or not, she still wasn't eager to actually go through with it. But, for Maggy, she had to do it anyways. She pulled free of Emerald and turned away, face a bit heated. "Goodbye, for now."

"Whatever happens...whatever they do...I'm going to be there for you," Flora asserted.

"Don't worry about me," Cinder murmured, shaking her head. "Worry about our daughter. I can handle whatever they throw at me; I'm not new to being treated terribly. But her..."

"You're right." Flora frowned, like she didn't like it that Cinder _was_. "I love you."

"Love you, too. S-see you around." Cinder lifted her chin and stalked out of the apartment, human fingers and grimm claws alike trembling at her sides.

Down the steps, onto the sidewalk.

She drew a breath, gazing all around her; this was probably the last she'd see of it for a long time. Or, even forever.

_That doesn't matter - I just have to make sure Maggy gets to see it again._

Cinder bowed her head and grasped her arm, gazing at her feet.

"Hey. Mother - or whoever you people still have left alive here - I'm ready. So come and get me!"

Her own shadow rippled, and then rose up from the ground in three dimensions. It shifted and changed, and her mother stood beside her.

Cinder refused to look at her.

"And this isn't just another bait, why?" her mother's cynical tones flowed freely.

"Because you have _my_ _child_."

"We do, that's right. Well, come on then. Let's go, Cindy."

"Cinder."

"I like Cindy - I think Maggy will, too. Does she ever call you that?"

"No..."

A soft laugh. "She should. It's cute."

"Can we just...please...go."

Amusement. "Of course; if that's what you want. Let's take a trip to Anima - we can do some nice, mother-daughter bonding!"

The only mother-daughter bonding Cinder would accept...was going to be fighting and killing this woman.

* * *

After the flight over to Anima, they made landing in a small city named Podaris.

From there, Cinder's mother acquired public transport, and they traveled for several more long hours before finally disembarking.

It was a tiny village in central Anima.

But even this wasn't their destination.

Tyra turned to Cinder and reached for her arm. "If I give you directions, can you fly the rest of the way?"

"I _could_..." Cinder retorted.

"It would be faster than walking; it will take us another six or so hours to get where we're going from here."

"Fine. Yes," Cinder sighed.

Mother smiled. "Good." Cinder's body tensed as her mother stalked around behind her, as those arms slid around her neck - but they didn't squeeze tight and strangle her to death. "Go on now."

Cinder blew a breath, bringing her Maiden powers to bear, and lifting off from the dirt.

She soared over endless forest, until Tyra finally spoke up in her ear, an arm pointing below and ahead - somewhere off to the left.

As Cinder descended, she found a small clearing and a tattered old cottage overrun by wildlife.

Trees, plants, bushes - thick and pressing on all sides.

A fallen log a few feet from the front door.

Tyra let Cinder go, striding forward for that door immediately, a smile on her face.

"Is this where you live?" Cinder asked, staring after her.

Tyra stopped with hand on the door handle. "This is where we live."

"Is Maggy here?"

"Why not come in and find out?"

Cinder obeyed.

Tyra led her through a tiny living room, rotting and dirty. Through a short hallway, in past a door half hanging from its hinges, into a small bedroom.

In the middle of the room, the floorboards were gone - there was a trapdoor in place. Tyra pulled it open, wiped off her hands and then jumped right in, disappearing into darkness.

Cinder hesitated before following, keeping her Aura up.

She fell a much farther distance than she expected, until her feet hit solid stone.

Her eyes adjusted to the dark, helped out by torchlight around her.

She was in a hallway, pure stone, carved out far too perfectly - rounded and smooth. At one end of the hall, there was a large wooden door framed by torch brackets. At the other end, a "T" intersection.

Tyra stepped over to the door, pulled it open, and then turned to give Cinder a patient look.

Cinder gazed past her, into the room ahead - large, more stone, a few torches in sight, rows of candles on the far side, a red mattress on a slab of stone, like some kind of altar for prayer...

"Well?" Tyra spoke, gesturing.

Cinder moved, entering the room.

Tyra stepped in after her - and shut the door behind herself.

Cinder did her best not to startle. She moved slowly around the room, eyeing it all in detail now. Her grimm claws curled into a fist at her side...

"Cinder?"

She stopped, turning.

Her mother had lowered herself to her knees in the middle of the room. Hands resting on her thighs, her expression...troubled. Her brown eyes shimmered in firelight.

"Yes?" Cinder responded, drawing the word out.

"Could you come sit with me, please?" Tyra gestured to the space in front of her.

"Why should I?"

"Because I'd like to give you some of those answers you wanted - about your life," Tyra went on, quiet, neutral. "About me, about your childhood. About- your father."

Cinder slowly stalked for the middle of the room. She lowered herself down in front of her mother. "Alright. Tell me."

Cinder went rigid as her mother suddenly moved for her, and took her into her arms.

It was warm, it was gentle, it was...everything she'd ever wanted. It was a dream she'd long since given up on.

"When we met last time - everything you said - you were right. I've thought about it all. About my own behavior, my attitude...it wasn't the best foot to start off on. And you...you were right. If I meant it, I should have been on my knees. I should have been begging you for forgiveness. So I'm begging now, Cinder. I'm on my knees _now_. I'm sorry for everything, for what kind of a mother I was, for abandoning you - you and your father. If I could explain it to you why I did..."

"Explain."

"I have a very powerful Semblance: the gift of foresight," Mother began. "I can see into the far future - days, weeks, to even years ahead - but only if I'm in physical contact with the person I want to see the future of. If I'm not, I only see the immediate future; we're talking minutes to hours. But no matter what I'm seeing, it's only ever brief snippets, and they're jumbled up - out of order. While I was pregnant with you, it was at its worst. And I hated you, and I was afraid of you. You weren't even born yet, and I _hated you_! Because I saw the things you'd go on to do - the fall of Beacon, your stepfamily. Though, I didn't understand any of it at the time. There was no context. And I had to hate you for nine months straight, my Aura constantly draining, flashes in my head, sights and sounds and smells...screaming, burning, blood..."

"I didn't have hardly a minute of peace," Mother went on, with a little laugh. "I was going insane because of you. It was a relief when you were finally born - pushed you out of there. I tried to forget it, I tried to just keep you away from me - stop any more visions - but every time we touched again...I remembered why I hated you all over again. And it never helped that I never wanted you to begin with, never even wanted to have you!"

"Then why did you?" Cinder asked, voice cracking. "Why even bother? Why not just abort me, or strangle me after I was out? If you hated me _that much_?"

"Because I was told to have you. I was...made to have you. No matter what I wanted. Or what your father wanted." Mother's breath hitched. "He...didn't even understand why I was trying so hard for it, for you. He didn't want it either, didn't want you either. He- I-"

"What?"

"I'm never going to be proud of what I did to him."

" _What_...did you do?"

"I- tried too hard for you, a lot of nights together. Even...when he didn't at all want to again."

Cinder recoiled, ripping herself free of Tyra's grasp and shooting to her feet. She stared down at her imperiously, grimm claws splayed.

"I know," Tyra said simply, tilting her head to look up at her from the floor. "I know..."

" _You- you-_ you v-violated him, you _raped him?!_ "

"I did. A number of times. Especially towards the end. I was just- getting more and more desperate, and frustrated, and I...I stopped caring what he really even wanted anymore, or what he thought about it all."

"No wonder he left with me! He was probably happy to get away from you for once." Cinder's voice was strangled, her claws threatened to _strangle_. She felt so sick, her stomach was just...

"That wasn't his choice either..."

" _What_?"

"I- when you were three, I made him leave with you. I couldn't stand you anymore, I couldn't keep...and not him, either, how guilty I felt, how- he shouldn't have had to keep staying with me as long as he did. But he- he did. Until I made him leave."

Cinder closed her eye, letting oldest memories drift back to her again, for the first time in a while now.

She still did remember those times, traveling around with her daddy. She remembered every time he'd hug her, kiss her, hold her. He'd get her little gifts, treats, probably with money he didn't exactly have to spend. Courier work in Remnant was valued, sure, and it gave good money, but not quite _that_ good. But he had done it, on almost every stop in every little town or village. She remembered the treats of ice cream, she remembered a stuffed rabbit...she remembered when her dad had come upon the village that would become a more permanent fixture in their lives. The mansion outside of it, the family that lived there...the Nuveri family...

Even if her dad hadn't ever wanted her either...even if he'd always had to look at Cinder's face and see in it a striking resemblance to the grown woman who had violated him...he'd never once looked at Cinder with anything _but love_ , never once treated her with anything _but care_. Her dad had _chosen_ to do that - just like Cinder's mother _had chosen to hate her!_ To express that hate at her, in ways Cinder couldn't remember or imagine - she didn't want to.

Her dad had been _good_ , and _kind_ , and _wonderful_ \- no matter what.

And, whatever the hell her stepmother had been to Cinder, at least in those earliest years before her dad had died, Cinder remembered her dad as being so _happy_. So happy to be with that woman, with Lady Nuveri, to have all those other girls around. How he'd encouraged Cinder to play with them, to get to know them. How he'd always been so...

It had been good, at least, for those first few earliest years of life there, hadn't it? For her dad, at least. And Lady Nuveri had to have...treated him well, had to have- hadn't she? It was only Cinder she'd ever looked at like a literal stain on her shoe. She'd _loved_ her dad, as much as her dad had loved...right?

Cinder hadn't ever thought about it before, but...her dad _had_ found happiness, freedom, hadn't he? It hadn't just been one god awful marriage to another? One abusive wife to another?

Her stepmother had loved him, she'd been smitten with him immediately - Cinder _did_ remember that right! She did, damnit!

Although, even with that, it was always possible that behind closed doors, when Cinder was out of sight...

It had been a big mansion, after all...

What if - What if...?

_Oh god, what if..._

Cinder blinked rapidly, gave a furious swipe at her eye and glared down at her mother with a flaming amber eye. " _Why?_ _How could you do that to him?! How could you-_ "

"Because the Order wanted me to."

"They wanted you to put Mordeya's essence inside of me."

"So you know - yes. That's what they wanted."

"Why?"

Tyra winced suddenly, shook her head, grasped it - as if in sudden, great pain. "Because...because with Imryll's soul being both out here _and_ _in there_...it creates a twofold bond, a much more powerful connection - one that magic can go through - and once she's awake in you, both parts of her from both sides will be able to use their powers to...widen the bridge, make the crack in the wall between dimensions even bigger. Enough for all of them to cross it without even needing to destroy the seal that that damned wizard put on the gateway into that realm. We'll just- they'll just...ignore it, go past it. Another exit. A self-made exit. A big hole in the wall."

"But she can't do that yet. She's not awake yet."

"Not yet," Tyra agreed, mournful. She dropped her head with a sharp gasp.

"What happens to me when she does wake up? When she does all this?"

"Your body will be hers to control, and you'll be the one going to sleep. An unconscious state. You won't be dead - just...asleep in there."

"And you don't care, she doesn't care - none of you _care_!" Cinder yelled. "You don't care what you do, to who, to anyone, you don't care if you-"

_**"NO, WE DON'T!"** _

A thousand whispers filled the room; the wall's shadows rippled. And from them emerged a face, a face made of shadows, black smoke drifting off of it. The face wasn't all too sharp, or any sort of definably, maturely "female." It was small, rounded, with thin eyebrows and thinner lips. Almost...like the face of a child, Cinder realized. Were they trying to manipulate her? Play on her sympathies? They did like to talk about those poor, imprisoned kids, didn't they? True or not. But no matter what, this face wasn't real, wasn't tangible. All the same, when those pure black eyes found Cinder...

Cinder slowly turned, fighting not to look away. "Who are you supposed to be?" she said, adopting the fakest of disinterested voices, willing it not to tremble.

 **"We are everyone that the wizard locked** **away."** The voice was, like the face, a facsimile of a child's - a little girl's. But there was an undercurrent to it, a thousand other voices behind it, morphing it into something far different. **"We're the Ascendants. We** **are-"**

"Skip the theatrics; let's just be straight with each other," Cinder interrupted, mouth dry. "Who are you?"

Those whispers intensified, overlapping - roaring and screaming, whispering and begging, urging and snapping - and then it was silenced.

That shadowy face shifted, small lips formed a smile. " **If you like; we are Imryll, and we want to make a deal with you, Cinder."**

"What deal?"

**"You fulfill your purpose at last, and we let you leave with your daughter afterward."**

Cinder set her grimm claws on her hip, offered up an uncertain scoff. "Liar. I'm not going to be able to just walk out of here, because I'm not even going to be _me_ after it's over. Am I?"

**"Yes you will - your mother still lacks a full understanding of how things work."**

"Really? So to convince me, you're going to play good cop, bad cop - pin all the negatives on my mother's _lack of understanding_?" Cinder laughed at that face, shaking her head. "Ridiculous. It's amateur, is what it is."

**"We're only doing what you asked."**

"What if I asked you to let me go _now_ , with Maggy, and never bother us again?"

" **We can't let that happen."**

"I thought so," Cinder snorted.

 **"We need you - we need to be free!"** the childish voice insisted, with the weight of thousands.

"And you don't care who you hurt to get it. Not my dad, not my daughter."

**"Your father wasn't hurt; and neither has your daughter been."**

"You call _raping_ , you call _kidnapping_ -"

**"They weren't hurt."**

"Oh, so that's how we're doing this - we're playing semantics!" Cinder said, disbelieving. "There wasn't _pain_ involved, so it's all right! Go to hell! You know, a lot of people would say that trauma, PTSD, is something infinitely worse than the event itself - because it stays with you, it's there every single day, it affects your personality, your health, your-"

 **"No one was hurt!"** Imryll burst out with utter frustration, tendrils exploding from the wall around that face, writhing furiously.

Cinder stared. On one hand, she _was_ literally talking to a wall, wasn't she? On the other hand...she was also talking to a child. Or, the image of one. But why was Mordeya acting like one? It was like she really, genuinely _didn't_ comprehend why any of this was so horrendous. It was like Cinder when Cinder had tried to explain to Bae, one time, just why she couldn't just go skateboarding right down the middle of the damn streets of Mantle; Bae had insisted that she hadn't gotten hurt, that nobody had even gotten hurt, nobody had hit her, so why couldn't she? What was so bad about it? Why not? It had been frustration and confusion to the point of near tears with that girl - for both of them.

"And no one...is going to get hurt when you do what you want with me?" Cinder said, slowly and clearly, eyeing Imryll's face intently.

Those eyebrows scrunched...then lifted. That frowning mouth relaxed. **"Correct. Have we hurt anyone so far? Why do you think we would hurt anyone now?"** There was that genuine confusion again, that questioning with total...innocence. An earnestness. Like Imryll really just wanted to know. No mocking, no devil's advocate, no playing dumb.

"I know three people you've hurt," Cinder replied, deliberate, thinking hard. "Neo, Blake, and Miltia. When you turned them, I _heard_ it was all very violent - painful. What do you think of that?"

Imryll's face lowered. Every feature downcast. **"That's the one pain that can't be helped. But after it is, it's worth it. For anyone, for everyone. Isn't surgery painful, but in the end you're better off for it?"**

"Yes," Cinder said slowly. "But people _volunteer_ for surgery. They sign themselves up, they consent to go through with it. Nobody consents to become an Ascendant."

**"Plenty of people asked before. Plenty of people willingly agreed to let us help them. And we helped them. People who were so sick they were going to die - or had children who were so sick they were going to die."**

Irritating semantics again - or infantile incomprehension? Cinder drew a breath, stepping forward. "Neo didn't. Blake didn't. Miltia didn't," she said, as clear as she could - like she _was_ talking to Bae or Maggy.

**"We still helped them; they're happy we did."**

"But they didn't agree to it."

 **"You don't need to agree to get** **helped."**

"Why?" Cinder asked - simple, patient - adopting a faux curious tone. "Tell me what you mean."

Concentration crossed Imryll's face. A long moment of silence in the room. **"We never did; whenever we needed help, we were helped. Whether we wanted to or not - and we protested it a number of times we can remember."**

"As a child, perhaps-" Cinder began, allowing - anticipating the logic she felt was at play here now.

 **"Yes."** A statement, simple as could be.

Cinder stared into that face ever more intensely. Took another few steps forward. "But you...aren't a child anymore - it's been three hundred years - even if you were once."

**"Why?"**

"Are you saying you _are_ one?" Cinder responded, incredulous.

**"Yes, we are."**

Cinder breathed. _Okay, then..._ "Imryll: how old are you?"

**"Nine - we're _always_ nine."**

"What?"

**"You don't understand. That's all right; no one does until they really meet us."**

"No, I understand what you _said_ , I'm just-" Cinder cut herself off, shaking her head. "My _father_ , my- the Ascendants-"

 **"It is a nice name, isn't it? I made it up for us."** Nothing but childish _pride_ \- satisfaction.

"But _my father_! My father- you- you had him _raped_ , you- you _made my mother do it_ \- and everything that's ever...you're a _child_?!"

 **"I knew it was something really awful..."** that small voice admitted. **"But I don't care; I just want to get out of here! And you're going to help me - help all of us!"** Anger, a crashing wave of force, with all those other voices behind it again now. Raging, screaming at Cinder! Like being in the middle of an angry mob, a thunderous crowd!

Cinder clapped her hands to her ears, falling to her knees. "I- I c-can't, I'm not- Imryll, _shut up, stop it already!_ You're not-"

And just like that, the voices died.

**"You will help us - we will make you help us."**

"Imryll..." Cinder spoke, letting her hands fall and bringing her head up - trying to regain herself. "Please - tell me - what exactly are you going to use me for? How?"

**"Tyra told you part of it."**

"Part of it?"

**"Yes."**

"What...what else is it that you want from me?"

**"We want you to help us all get free."**

"Yes, but what _else_?"

**"We want to get free! We told you!"**

Cinder took a hasty breath, pushing herself to her feet again. She made eye contact with the shadowy child's face again. "Okay - yes, you did - but you said 'part of it.' What's the other part, Imryll? I'd like you...to explain that to me. Details, specifics. Explain it. Please."

**"I...I don't understand how it will work, myself. Not really. But I know it will. And when it does, I will be..."**

"You'll be what, Imryll?"

**"Helped."**

"Helped how?"

**"You'll help me. I'll be better again."**

Cinder reached for patience once more. "What do you mean?"

**"I won't be like this anymore."**

"Like...an Ascendant?" Cinder guessed. "How the Relic of Creation changed you all?"

**"Yes. I will be free of this at last. All of it."**

"You mean that you- want to be- normal again?"

 **"Yes! That's what we just said!"** Dark tendrils surged forth and began to encircle Cinder - but they didn't touch her, didn't squeeze her up and try to kill her or anything (yet, Cinder thought).

"You did - I'm sorry, I just wanted to be sure!" Cinder said quickly, evenly. She gazed at Imryll's face, blinking at her. "Please get rid of these, Imryll. Or are you going to hurt me?"

Imryll's eyes widened; the tendrils retreated, vanishing altogether into the wall. **"We told you: we don't hurt people. We help them."**

"Yes, you did say that," Cinder agreed. "Imryll, how exactly am I going to be able to help you become normal again?"

**"I told you - I don't understand it! I just know what all of the others tell me; they came up with the idea. It's taken a long time to make one that will work."**

"Well then, what have they told you? Did they explain it to you?"

**"A bit."**

"Can you explain it to _me_?" Cinder asked, in the kindest voice. "Don't you think I should know? How am I going to help you if I don't know what's going on?"

**"Yes, okay..."**

Cinder waited, breathing in and out; she put her hands together at her waist, presenting an image of utter attentiveness.

**"After we free everyone from Kintu-"**

"Kintu?"

**"Kintu is our home; the home we _made for us_ after what Ozpin did to us!"**

"Alright. Please, keep going."

**"After everyone is let out of here, the part of me in you will get stronger and let me be drawn into you, and then I'll come out of you like normal again. I'll be normal again."**

"'Come out of me like normal?'" Cinder said tersely. "What does _that_ mean? Are you going to _rape me too?_ "

 **"No - not that again."** Imryll shook her head, smoke wafting with the motion. **"They said that because that part of me is _already_ in you that we won't need to do that again. I just need to get pulled into you by the part of me in you now, and then it will happen all on its own."**

"All on its own? So - what - I'm just- spontaneously going to get pregnant or something?"

Whispers in the room, which faded quickly as they'd come.

**"Yes - that is what they said would happen."**

"How exactly is this going to work?" Cinder asked. "For freeing the others, for putting yourself in me to do all of this? How do you get from where you are, in Kintu, to here inside of me to join this other part of you? Is it going to hurt me?"

**"It might hurt for a few seconds."**

"How?"

**"Your eye."**

Cinder's stomach squirmed. "My eye _what?!_ "

**"The eye is the window to the soul; but if that eye doesn't work, your soul can't look _out_ through that window. That will let me-"**

"You're going to-"

**"Just for a moment; it will be healed after I'm in you - I am an Ascendant. My soul will bring its healing properties with it, and those will work on your body. My new body, while I have it."**

"Alright. And if..." Cinder began, pressing on. "if I were to even...let you do this...if you were normal again..."

**"What?"**

"What does that mean for all the other Ascendants?" Cinder asked finally. "What about their powers, what about your telepathic connection that you all have?"

**"The entire web will break apart. We won't be able to hear each other anymore. Because I'm the...the center point that it all spreads out from. That everything passes through."**

"I understand that," Cinder said, nodding. "And what about all of this helping people stuff? Ascending, transforming? Will that all stop too?"

 **"I'm the only one who will be free of...the Relic's..."** Hesitation, struggling. **"How it changed us."**

 _Which means, even if_ you _won't be a threat anymore, even if you won't all be connected anymore...everyone else is still going to be a threat - individuals, but individual threats_ still.

"What if I agreed to just help _you_?" Cinder spoke kindly. "If I were to go along with all of this, could all the rest be...left behind in - Kintu, you said? - the other dimension?"

**" _NO!!!_ _"_**

Cinder winced. _Right - d_ _idn't think so._ "Okay, okay - fine! That's- fine! Now what about-"

**"We are done talking! You will help us, you will help _all of us_ , no matter what we have to do to make you!"**

"No, no, Imryll - you're going to let me go, you're going to let Maggy go, this isn't-"

**"Be quiet! Don't cause us trouble or you'll regret it! We will make sure Maggy regrets it!"**

" _Imryll-_ "

That childish face, twisted with rage, disappeared in smoke, and then tendrils were bursting from all directions - every wall, and even the floor and the ceiling! Swift and powerful, they were smothering Cinder from all directions before she could even move!

They were wrapping around her, there was a burning sensation across her flesh - like some acidic substance was being lathered all over her figure - and they were contracting, squeezing-

Cinder screamed as her Aura was rapidly sapped and shattered; she burst with Maiden powers, explosive, raw magic.

The tendrils were destroyed in her immediate vicinity, a frozen wind surrounded her, lifting her into the middle of the room.

"Cinder!" Mother was calling to her from the edge of the room, her expression one of total distress. "All those years ago, I made a mistake. I was acting on information that wasn't whole! All I saw was all the worst things about you - the fall of Beacon, your stepfamily's murder, and so many other horrible things - but I never saw your best! I never really saw...just how special, how wonderful, how beautiful you are. I never should have sent you away! I should have kept you, I should have tried harder! I know I can never make that right with you - I was scared, and I panicked, and I did hate you because of who I saw you'd _become_ , and I can't defend myself on it - but if you give me a chance, I want to show you I can still give you all that love you deserved from me! I want to have the chance to still be in your life somehow! I'm _s-sorry_!"

Cinder turned a flaming eye on her as she rippled out with fire to turn another wave of tendrils to ashes. _Too late. It's way too late for that, mother!_

The door burst open, and half a dozen people spilled in and began unloading weapons at her - automatic dust rifles, grenade launchers, and even dust tipped arrows.

Cinder raised a magic barrier to block it all, her eye narrowing at them all.

A tendril ensnared her grimm arm, wrapping around it like a serpent and snapping it straight - burning into it with that acid, hissing black smoke...

A scream, and Cinder turned just in time to see her mother come launching at her, swinging a powerful burning blade of fire Dust crystals in its hilt; it was slicing down onto Cinder's shoulder, going through like nothing! Cinder screamed as the limb was severed, falling to the ground and shrieking shrilly!

There was nothing but that agony, nothing but wanting it to stop!

Suddenly Tyra had grabbed her human arm and was shoving her back onto the floor. Cinder lit her eye up with a scream, thrashing; there was a sudden explosion in her shoulder stump as a fire dust arrow buried itself in it, blowing it apart. Blood and gore flew everywhere - and the grimm beetle, long ago first burrowed in it, was scattered to nothing with a shrill screech.

_No! Nooo! Emerald, Emerald, goddammit, please - focus - Emerald!_

The Maiden powers, now freed again, burned like a wild flame in the room, and soared up into the ceiling.

Cinder thrashed and tried to fight, but there were several robed figures around her, several weapons striking at her, dust rounds and large blunt weapons.

She tried bringing up her Aura, but what little she even had recharged was taken down again in an instant by the barrage of bullets and beating of hammers, clubs and maces.

More hands were seizing her, and then there were chains going around her legs and sole remaining human arm, her waist - and these chains were being hooked into the floor where a steel ring was revealed from beneath a stone slab...

Tyra's face above hers, looking down at her with sheer hatred and disgust. A dagger in her hand, being lowered right toward Cinder's face. Right toward her eye socket.

"Wh-what are you _doing_ , what are you _doing to me_ , _let me go, let me up, right now! I'll- I'll kill you, I'll kill all of you, I'll incinerate you - every last one of you, do you fucking hear me- mother, mother don't- you can't do this to me, you can't do this - please I'm sorry, please I'm sorry, mommy please don't I'm sorry I really am, please! I'll be good, I'll be quiet, I'll do anything you want, I'll be really really good I promise, please just don't do this to me! Please don't, please, I promise!_ "

Her mother plunged the dagger into her eye.

Cinder's world exploded into searing red, waxy and distorted- and then darkness as the blade tore free again.

A hand was on her face, a palm over her eye socket. Something hot and burning rushed into it, scorching straight through to her brain...and then it was washing through her whole body.

In the core of her chest, Cinder felt something _pulse_ , and her frantic screaming died in her torn up throat as she fell unconsciousness.


	8. A Cold And Broken Hallelujah

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's some pretty major rated M stuff in here! Graphic/disturbing violent stuff and scary situations/implications, heavy dealings with trauma and PTSD - and explicit, implied, and mentioned violence against a child. On the sexual side of things, there is one tiny nonspecific implied act of masturbation, and there IS ALSO one explicit sex scene between romantic partners that only lasts like two paragraphs, and then some wholesome casual talking afterward! Because communication and healthiness is good for a relationship, people!

A child's mind, warped by the Relic. And then she had gone on to take and twist so many others.

Maybe she hadn't even realized it at first, or been able to stop herself, and it had just all gotten out of control.

To the point that now, after three hundred years imprisoned in another realm...all that girl wanted to do was to free herself - and everyone else in there, too. Her people, her species, her...Ascendants. A whole new people, come into existence out of accident and chance.

The child didn't care what she had to do to get free - she didn't even understand what she was doing to get free. Not really. A normal one wouldn't, and one with a magic-warped mind wouldn't especially. Would she? Kids didn't have great empathy, did they? Or any real understanding of the world, of action and consequence. Of hurt. Of trauma. And most of all, they didn't have experience or knowledge.

And was the child, the first of them all, the central point, the "head"...even the one in charge of all this? All that talk of _everyone else_ telling her what to do, feeding her ideas and plans, and the child's own admittance about not even _understanding half the shit she was doing..._ suggested otherwise. She was just... _doing_ ; a child doing what the adults said, because they knew best, even still. Just a figurehead, and a tool, and a- a desperate and naïve kid. A kid...eternally stuck as a kid? Trapped as one?

Was every Ascendant that way, or just the first? Just Imryll?

Mercury had reported that Lisume had told him and Miltia she was three hundred - but she had hardly looked mid twenties. Clearly their high levels of regeneration worked to prevent aging in some way, too, but...was it more than that?

When you became an Ascendant, did you get stuck? Frozen? Trapped as you were? Same maturity, same mentality? Unable to grow, in your mind - in your very soul? Stagnant?

Cinder could see how any kid would be desperate to escape that. Being a kid forever was nice in fairy tales, but for it to really happen...

You'd go mad, wouldn't you?

Wanting to mature, to grow, to learn, to...expand and move on in life.

But you couldn't.

You never would.

Unless...you got free of it all.

Unless you found a way to be reborn, rebirth yourself through another, and come out a normal child again - in body, mind, and soul.

But Imryll wasn't willing to _just_ _do that_ , not yet - she wanted to create that passageway between realms first, that way out for all of those thousands of others _first_. She wanted to _free all of them_ _first_. Except they weren't going to be normal again, not like her - they'd retain those powers, those warped mindsets.

They'd be threats to Remnant, to everyone, all the same, once they spilled out into the world again. Even without that mental network between them all anymore. Even without a leader, a central hub that was Imryll.

And for that...

Cinder couldn't let it happen.

If Imryll could just agree to rebirth herself and forget the rest...Cinder would have been willing to do it for her! Have the girl, birth a normal girl, and wash her hands of it all! Know that the thousands of monsters would remain trapped in that other realm forever, especially with their leader gone.

But that wasn't in the cards.

Maybe it was compassion, maybe it was empathy, maybe it was the Relic's affects on her mind at play...but that child was totally unwilling to just let the rest go and free herself alone.

Cinder wondered if she could ever even convince the child. Could any argument even work on someone whose mind had been altered by a godly magical artifact? Especially a child?

Cinder could hardly talk to her own girls in the right way - Flora was always better about that! Flora was always better with _them_.

But if Cinder were to just continue on as intended, stop all of this before it could happen - stop the plan to open the way between dimensions, and stop the plan for Imryll's rebirth after - by destroying the girl's soul essence slumbering inside of herself...would that make her a murderer of another child? Or did it not count if that soul wasn't exactly fully awake or aware yet? Was it more akin to an act of abortion? Could she square it with herself that way, then? Still go through with it? Would Flora agree with her about that if she did, or would she judge her for it? Judge her guilty?

 _Ugh!_ Why did she have to _think?!_ Why did she have nothing but all of _this_ in her head? Why couldn't it all just go away?

Was there even another way? A way for everyone to win, but for all of this to still end? And for Cinder to keep a clean damn conscience?

Maybe.

She recalled Ozpin's words, about the other Relics being able to be used to open the seal, simple and easy, in their own ways.

What if...what if that seal was opened, and one Relic in particular was used on those inside the other realm? Just as was being planned for those Ascendants still here on Remnant?

The Sword could destroy the Plague inside of those on Remnant, and then...it could do the same for those in the other realm - Kintu, Imryll had called it.

And if they were all human again, all normal people, couldn't they all just...come back? Be fine and normal again? All of them?

There wouldn't be any need for all of this, no need for Imryll's extreme plans (or, the plans fed into her ear by adults around her), no need for magic workarounds, or anything else.

It would all just...end. And everyone could go home happy.

And _then_ , then, Cinder would be willing to just go through with what the girl wanted and free her into this world again as a normal child - knowing that not her, and not any of the rest, would be threats anymore to Remnant. And to her own family.

Everyone would be free, and _normal_ , and it would be over without anyone having to die.

And things would be _just fine_...right?

Well, maybe not; just because someone's mind was repaired, their thoughts straightened out, didn't mean their own free will and opinions couldn't hold aggression and negativity about being reverted. Towards the ones who'd done it to them. What if they missed it, wanted it back, like addicts? What if they were still desperate enough to get it all back again? Go after the Relics, try to return themselves to what they were?

There were thousands of them in that other realm - more than a few of them were bound to have unhappy thoughts about being turned back. To have to give up all those powers, abilities, and even that mental network of theirs.

Warped minds or not, all of those things were...beneficial.

Hell, Cinder herself was, right now, dearly missing her Maiden powers - and even her grimm arm! And she would have taken them back in a heartbeat if she could!

They were hers, they'd helped her do so much good lately. And now they were just...gone. Cut off.

It was still a bit of a system shock, honestly.

How couldn't she expect it to be the same for those Ascendants? At least some of them? Enough of them...

Cinder growled and slammed her fist onto the harsh stone floor.

What was the solution? What was the way? Clean and easy, for everyone?

Or was there no such thing?

Was _someone_ just going to have to hurt, to give up - to die?

Was that just how it was?

No reasoning, no compromise, no other way?

Was any solution that anyone came up with...just going to be imperfect?

Would there be fallout and dangers after the end, no matter what happened? No matter _how_ it all ended?

Would Cinder just have to accept that? Deal with it when it came her way? Pick one path, and stick to it, no matter where it led? Knowing it might not be the best one out there?

She hated the thought of that; she couldn't _tolerate it._ Not from herself. Even the smallest _speck_ amiss on a shiny floor could be spotted, and could result in so much pain and _grief_. Imperfection was _not_ something she did! Imperfection was intolerable, it meant risk of suffering ahead, it meant a hand on her throat and many hours spent cowering away in some dark room. It meant _starving_ , it meant _cold_ , it meant...

It meant she couldn't let it be.

With all her allies, friends, with the Relics and magic on her side, there _had to be_ a solution that was so perfectly perfect that it would ensure nothing _bad_ could still rear its head for her later!

Hours of hard work, and a bit of dirt could ruin it all for her - spell an awful time later. It just meant she hadn't worked _hard enough_. Even to the point of exhaustion, of aching arms and bleeding fingers.

Cinder just had to think _harder_ , she had to do _better_ with this!

Because it wasn't just her that would suffer for it, not this time, not with this: it was her partner, and her kids who would get hurt if _she_ didn't _get this right_!

Cinder lifted her head as the door creaked open, pushing herself up on her side and bracing on her remaining arm; she was relieved to get some of her naked body off the cold stone floor.

She'd been stripped of her clothing a while ago, hadn't been given even a blanket or a pillow.

Tyra had told her she wasn't going to risk her making any attempts to escape. Cinder had asked, very quietly, what she thought she could even do to escape with a pillow. Tyra told her she wasn't stupid enough to risk finding out.

No weapons, no tools.

Nothing.

But at least she'd been left with only a single chain attached to a metal collar around her neck - she had a good bit of slack to work with, to move around the room a little. Stand up, if she wanted to - practice some hand to hand combat on her own. Though, she hadn't actually done that yet (she'd just been really cold, and really tired in here).

Footsteps entered the room. Stopped directly in front of Cinder.

A familiar, hated voice above her head.

"Can you move? Stand?"

Cinder shook her head. "I'm not sure..." she said honestly. "Why?"

"Because we need you to do something for us."

"What?" Cinder felt something hard and cold press against her fingers on the smooth stone floor. She instinctively grasped. "You're giving me a knife?" she spoke quietly. "Why? I'm out of eyes to give you. Unless you want me to cut something else out now."

"Nothing from you," Tyra replied. "In order to wake up the part of Imryll inside you - to strengthen it - it needs to be fed. The diet is souls."

"I can't absorb souls."

"We have a way to make sure they get to the right place," Tyra assured. "Don't worry about that. Just do your part, and release the soul from the body."

"You mean you want me to kill someone," Cinder said flatly.

"Yes." A heavy scraping sound, a loud _clack_ \- wood on stone - right in front of Cinder. "Let's start with this man here. Wanted across Remnant for the triple homicide of his entire family; he was on the run for it for a while, until we found him. It should be easy enough to shove a blade into his chest."

Cinder remained on the floor, listening to the muffled noises, the struggles of her intended...victim in that chair.

"It _would_ be easy," Cinder agreed tonelessly. She threw the dagger away with an absent little toss. "But I've spent two years trying not to be the woman who it's just _so easy_ for. I've spent two years realizing just how horrible it all was - how awful _I was for it all._ I'm not going to make myself do something like that again - not even to someone who might 'deserve it'. I'm not going to feel that way again. I already feel too much, every day, just from these memories of the victims I've _already made._ It might be easy for you to keep going, keep doing things like this...but I never want it to be again, not for _me_. I've been down that road before, and I hate who I was back then. I was arrogant, I was deluded, I was cruel, I was selfish, and I was wrong."

"Then you're going to feel even more awful knowing that you're causing your daughter to come to harm with your own decisions."

Cinder remained motionless, staring into the abyss. "You're disgusting. You're every bit the monster I fought back in that forest."

"And you're going to have to live with the choices you've made, that's right - this will just be one more."

The sound of that door opening. New footsteps. And then another familiar voice. Terrifyingly familiar.

"Mommy!"

 _No._ "Don't...don't do a thing to her, don't- just- please-"

A single footfall, the knife being pressed to her palm again. "Then make your choice. Make the one that doesn't result in her getting hurt. It should be easy, put in those simple terms, shouldn't it? Any mother would go for the obvious..."

Cinder gripped the blade tighter, pushing herself up onto her knees. "Get her out of here."

"I knew you'd see sense."

That door closing again, the cries of Maggy fading, pleading her name, not to leave her, not to let them take her away again...

Cinder stood on shaking legs, staggering forward to touch knife's tip to the bound man's chest - her foot banged against the chair leg. She traced, finding center...rising lungs, beating heart...

" _Sorry..._ " She drew her arm back, and thrust forth with all her strength.

* * *

Cinder was tired. Numb.

Impalement, throat slitting - alternating at random with every new victim.

There had been five so far, scattered between the endless hours.

And then a new one came before her, and she couldn't anymore.

She dropped the knife and stepped away. "Please. Just stop it. I just want to stop."

"You've already come so far. We can't just stop now. Keep going. You're almost done; one or two more should do it. Can't you feel her in there?"

Cinder could - had felt those pulses in her soul, a rising burning, had felt strange surges of emotion and even heard stray thoughts alien to her own mind - and that was the _problem_. "I can't. I- I won't."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Well, alright, then. If you're trying to stall, or call me a liar - I don't bluff. We're serious about the consequences. I suppose you just need to be motivated - disillusioned, if that's what you think."

"Please. Please just don't. Just stop...just stop it all..." Cinder said heavily.

"We're not stopping. This is your choice."

That door opened.

That voice again, so happy to see her again - and then calling for her to help her, get her away from these people, that she didn't like it here, that it was just cold and that they were mean and she was scared...

"Please, please, please...I just can't, I can't, don't h-hurt her for it, don't-"

"I'm not hurting her. You are. You're the one in control, Cinder, not me. You're the one with the power here - not me. This is your own decision. You made the choice to hurt her, not us."

A little cry, a growl, and then a high, piercing scream filled the room.

Shrieking, wailing...

Noises that receded after a slammed door.

Screaming for her, for Cinder, for mommy, help me, mommy please it hurts so bad...

"What did you do, what the _hell did you do to her!_ "

"It was just a little cut on the cheek," Tyra's steely tones came. "Nothing too serious. Just to show you that _we_ are serious; the life of one little girl _isn't_ more valuable than the _hundreds of others_ imprisoned in Kintu, just because she's _yours_! She can be a necessary s-sacrifice...if she has to be. I don't like it-"

"Funny, you don't seem that b-bothered..." Cinder choked out.

"I _don't like this! Do you really think I like doing any of this?!_ " Tyra erupted. "But I'm going to, b-because that's the only way to get through to you, apparently! You're uncooperative, you're-"

"Figures you'd be fine with just following disgusting orders," Cinder cut her off in a murmur. "You've had so much practice at it already. Raping the man you're supposed to love? No big deal. All for the Order. Kidnapping and torturing your own daughter - and _her daughter_? It's a piece of cake. Just tell yourself it's for the good of thousands, and you can keep sleeping at night..."

"Shut. Up! Shut up, or I swear - it was nothing this time, but the next time, it's going to be something much worse. Maybe a slice across the chest, or a much deeper one on the face, or even something a bit more involved. It's probably going to be difficult for her to use a crayon with four fingers! Do you want to keep _mouthing off to me?!_ Or do you want to get on with this! Or should I bring her back and punish her for _you_?! I'm doing what I can for _countless families_ , _countless suffering people-!_ "

"O-okay, I'll do it, I'll do it! Just..."

Cinder hefted the blade in her hand, let loose a feral scream, and then she was driving the blade into her latest, helpless victim's throat. She pulled it free and stabbed it in again, and again, and again - all over the woman's front, into her cheek, through an eye...

She fell back, the knife clattering, hot blood all over her hand and her arm.

The cold tendril touched Cinder's chest on schedule, worming its way in between her ribs again-

She screamed as the burning magma poured into her, filling up her chest - and then subsided. The tendril ripped free of her, and Cinder collapsed in a heap, a mess of mewling cries and tears, curling up on herself.

"That's more like it," Tyra's approving tone came. "Only a few more of these, and you'll be done. Don't lose your resolve again. And try to have a more positive attitude about it: you're going to be seen as a heroine to _millions_! Every single person in the realm of Kintu will remember you for centuries to come, as the one who set them free!"

Cinder couldn't think of any clever line, or witty retort, or even any kind of threat.

Nothing sounded right to her; she let Tyra walk away without a word.

And she just kept crying to herself.

* * *

In an abandoned house on the edge of the city of Podaris, in central Anima, a large group gathered.

Ozpin regarded them all, giving a nod, and began to address them. "Thank you all for coming. It has been two and a half days too many, and it is time we acted. For we are all here, and we are all prepared. I'd like to take the time, however, to go over the plan again, and the roles you'll be playing in it."

"Raven, you'll be our rapid extraction method - Qrow will remain here in this safe house to act as our exit point, and to keep young Bae safe should the enemy attempt to attack us here. Yang, while inside the enemy structure, will act as the secondary point by which Raven will be able to move back and forth between here and there as she must. We will prioritize locating and rescuing Maggy Rynon, as Cinder would doubtless have wished us to over even herself. As the only known remaining people infected with the Keshiri Plague on Remnant are now Tyra Aryle, and our stolen friends and allies - Ms. Belladonna, Ms. Malachite, and Neopolitan - Ms. Sustrai, you will engage any one of them on sight and attempt to land the singular winning blow that we need. If you are still certain you're willing to-"

"I am," Emerald said firmly. "For Cinder! She gave me her Maiden powers; I can't let her down! She _died_ for Maggy, and she trusted me with the power to save her. I'll give _my life_ to do it if I can. And to save Neo, too; it isn't right, _she_ isn't right - I want to put her right again."

"All right, then." Ozpin nodded. "It is the most noblest of sacrifices I could imagine, and I commend you for it, Ms. Sustrai." He stepped over to her, and offered the Sword of Destruction's hilt.

Emerald took it, and slid it into her belt.

"Team JNPR will act as protective guard for Raven while she searches for Maggy Rynon. Team RWBY, you will accompany Emerald on her assignment, and act in a similarly capacity for her."

"Hazel and Mercury, and Sinna, the three of you will remain at a distance from the location we are all going to be infiltrating - you will act as additional backup if necessary. If all goes well, Raven will use her bond with Sinna to simply retrieve the three of you, and bring you back here to meet up again with the rest of us."

"Ms. Castella..."

Flora looked at Ozpin.

"You still wish to go on this mission?"

"I have to," Flora croaked. "I have to be there for Maggy - a-and...even if Cinder's dead in there...I want her body. She deserves a funeral, not to rot in some monster stronghold!"

"Very well. Then you shall accompany Raven and team JNPR in their pursuit of your daughter within that place - and, after successfully getting her to safety, you may then also accompany them in a second search of the stronghold for Cinder's remains. If Raven is open to doing so."

"If we have the time," Raven said simply, with a nod at Flora - but her expression was almost on the verge of softness, for her.

"Thank you," Flora whispered, ducking her head.

"Salem," Ozpin spoke clearly. "You and I will also be remaining here with Qrow - unless things go so terribly wrong that we must enter the fray. I trust you have no objections to that?"

"None at all," Salem said simply, crossing her legs and sitting back on the couch.

"For someone who said Cinder was like a daughter to her, you don't look like you even _care_ that she's dead now," Flora snapped out. "Go figure!"

"We all mourn in our own ways - not all of us show it."

"How convenient for _you_."

"Flora - please," Ozpin spoke, raising a hand. "I realize that the immortal former foe among us is quite the suitable target for venting our emotions onto - especially after the loss of a significant other - but I'd ask you to refrain from that for the sake of group cohesion."

Flora turned away, wordless.

"Thank you." Ozpin swept his gaze over the assemblage of huntsmen and huntress - enemies and allies alike. "Now, if we are all ready - if we all understand our roles in this mission? Let us move out in half an hour's time."

* * *

Cinder kicked and punched the air furiously.

She dropped low and swept a leg around, bracing herself on single palm to the stone floor.

She lifted her lower body and threw a series of kicks aimed high, imagining an enemy's chest at just the right height.

She threw herself into a backwards roll-

And the chain reached full extension, violently halting her in her tracks and yanking her forward again to sprawl on her face.

Cinder growled, curled her fist and slammed it into the stone.

She really wasn't going to have too much range of motion when she made her escape attempt here...

That, and trying to practice with one arm was a hinderance all its own. A massive one.

She let her frustration go and sat back on her rear end, lifted a knee to sling her arm across.

She tried to just breathe. It was just out of her control - all these factors.

She could still do what she could still do. She had plenty to work with.

She ran her fingers along the chain's length itself, thoughtful; what was keeping her here could be a good weapon to free her...

Key word "Could".

Cinder sighed, falling flat onto her back and bringing her hand to her face.

_This is still all going to be way harder than I thought._

What did she even have to work with here again?

What control did she have?

What was in her power here?

Her thoughts turned to Flora. She could picture that face so perfectly in mind's eye, the way her hair hung sometimes, the way her lips just...every single detail of her bared figure...

A heat spread through her body to counteract the cold.

Well, Cinder knew one thing she had control over in here - and she still had a hand full of fingers to work with _there_...

The chain was actually helpful for _that_ too.

She wasn't a chains kind of woman - but she thought she could be now.

After working herself till she'd seized, a gasping smile come over her face, she put her hand behind her head and laughed to herself, letting her body sink into its relaxed state. A small bit of pleasure in the worst place to be.

 _I can still do whatever the fuck I want,_ she swore at her mother in her own head. _And I can still kill you with my bare - hand. I'll kill everyone in here with it!_

After she got out of here, she decided she was going to go shopping with Flora for a replacement outfit; she really missed the one the Order had stripped her of. That had been one of her favorite pairs of pants. And she wanted a new dress, too - something short, something...backless, maybe? Nylon? Leather? Maybe even...

_Ugh. What am I doing? Am I really this bored?_

Yes, yes she was.

She let her mind continue going all sorts of places, fantasizing as it pleased.

She didn't know how long of time had even passed since her last...murder.

Just food and water, intervals of the door opening and closing.

Nobody ever even talked to her - except Tyra, who _tried_ (and Cinder tried to ignore her).

After an unknown amount of time, she heard noises beyond the door.

Screaming and yelling, and gunfire.

Cinder sat bolt upright, grasping hold of the chain.

It had seemed like an eternity in this place, and with all she'd done and thought in it so far, she had honestly forgotten...

That was right: there had been a plan, an end in sight.

A reason.

An escape.

An escape that had come now for her.

The door burst open.

Boots, rapid on stone.

"You - get up, we're going." Someone was grabbing her arm, yanking her up on unsteady feet.

_Well, you're not my mother, but you'll do._

Cinder hurled herself at them with the left side of her body, taking them to the floor. She seized the chain's length and wrapped it around their neck and _pulled_. She reinforced and empowered with her Aura, keeping them pressed beneath her as they struggled, as those choking noises continued on...frantic beats of feet, a hand seizing her hair trying to tear her away-

Cinder gritted her teeth and let go of the chain, reaching up for their head and putting her hand against their face; she shoved all her Aura out through her palm, and there was a loud _crack_.

The struggling ceased under her instantly.

The arm fell away from her hair.

Cinder blindly felt around the corpse, finding the hilt of some weapon. She examined it quickly with fingers alone, and tapped a button.

A sword, she realized. And with the button press came a buzzing sound to fill her ears.

She slashed it across the chain where it joined with the floor.

Cinder rose to her feet, weapon held at her side. The chain dragged along between her legs as moved for the door.

She slammed up against it - and it didn't _move_.

She yanked on the handle, pushing her Aura into it; nothing was working - it wouldn't budge an inch.

_Dammit, no!_

Cinder threw herself at the door, over and over again, screaming and snarling.

It might as well have been a solid wall.

A wall, she could have blasted apart - if she'd still had her Maiden powers. But she didn't. She had nothing. Nothing but a single arm, and a thick chain hanging from her neck.

She was trapped here still.

Cinder blew a breath, fighting for control. She drew on her Aura senses - something she'd never been very good at - and tried to get some feel for what was happening here.

Energy, power, rippling across the door in mind's eye...

Someone was using a Semblance to keep her locked up here. Something to stop the door from being opened.

Some stasis power, or maybe something to do with gravity, or an increase in mass...

Who knew?

Cinder didn't really care how it was happening; she just knew that it was.

And she couldn't do a thing about it. Not here, not as she was now. She would just have to wait for her friends to kill the one trapping her here.

But why hadn't they done it immediately, she wondered. The sounds of battle had initially been right out in that first hallway, but then it had all quickly moved away from her.

Why hadn't they just _checked the damn door?!_ It was the first thing you _saw_ after dropping down the trapdoor!

Why the hell hadn't _they_ , then?

* * *

Flora moved through the dense forest and thick bushes, doing her best to stay near Raven Branwen.

She stumbled into a hole and let out a cry of surprise. Raven's arm flashed out behind herself and caught Flora, mid-tumble, without even looking.

"Thank-"

"Quiet," the bandit hissed. She crept forward another few feet and then stopped by a tree, hand resting on her weapon hilt in its sheath. She payed Flora a glance over a shoulder. "Try lifting your feet more - and make sure you actually check what's ahead with the tip of your boot _before_ you go taking another step in this kind of terrain."

"Thank-" Flora began again, automatic, before catching herself. She nodded.

Raven gave a simple nod back. She raised her hand and gestured, and then started off again.

Flora took a breath and looked down at her feet, focusing intently on just where she was placing them each time she moved.

The huntsman team JNPR, comprised of Jaune Arc, Nora Valkyrie, and Lie Ren, seemed to be having varying levels of success on that front - so Flora didn't feel _completely_ like a screw up. Ren was almost as good as Raven in the stealth department, followed by Nora, and lastly, Jaune. Flora knew she was absolute bottom of the rung, even below Jaune Arc, but she told herself that was obviously to be expected.

She had zero training in this sort of thing. She wasn't a huntress at all - not even a fully trained combatant. All she had was two years with Cinder under her belt (who, it was true, had always been a very fierce teacher, even when she was _trying_ to hold back - but that didn't come close to huntsman academy courses or army training). And now she'd never have another sparring session with her again.

Why had she let Cinder go? She had raised the objection herself to her that the Order would surely just kill her - after using her, of course. And now Cinder was dead, confirmed by her Maiden powers flying into the safe house two days ago, and soaring right into Emerald's chest. All Flora even had left in terms of hope now was that those monsters hadn't also killed Maggy. She'd even take them having twisted her little mind and body with that plague of theirs, because at least that meant there was a chance to save her - turn her back, along with their friends!

But if Maggy was dead too...

Flora didn't even know if she'd be able to hang on for Bae's sake.

It would just be too much. Far too much...

Even just the confirmed death of her partner had been almost too much to bear, these past two days now.

All she had was that one hope for Maggy, and a desire for closure - if she could have _that_ , she was reasonably certain she could make it through. Move forward, in time. Properly. All of those healthy stages of grief. A nice funeral. Things to occupy her time going forward in life: raising the girls, getting herself a job (she could go back to the one she'd had back in Mistral - the humble shop clerk).

She just had to know, she just had to see it...see _them_. Whatever had happened.

The group emerged into an incredibly small clearing, where a single, isolated, tiny old cottage was found. Overrun with vines, bushes, and rot and mold. There were fallen logs around it. One of the windows was broken.

Team RWBY (plus Emerald) emerged into the clearing from behind the cottage, cautious and primed for battle.

Raven gave them a look; she pointed to Ruby, then at the house.

Ruby looked confused - the girl shrugged and flushed.

Raven glowered at her, rolling her eyes. Then she whispered across the distance. " _Inside - back door. Now. Speed blitz it._ "

Ruby nodded quickly, setting her jaw and gripping her scythe more firmly. Then she burst into rose petals and disappeared in nearly the blink of an eye.

Crashing noises inside the house - a flutter of petals seen through a front window.

Then the door opened, and the girl stepped out, shaking her head. "There's no one here."

"They have to be," Flora spoke, desperate. She started forward. "Let's look-"

Raven flung out an arm, stopping her. She gazed at her, inscrutable. Then, she sighed and lowered her arm. She strode forward herself, on past Ruby to enter the house.

Flora hurried after the woman.

Raven moved swiftly through the cottage, eyes roaming without stopping. Guarded but thorough, fast but not _sloppy_. She moved down a short hall and stalked into a tiny little bedroom.

She paused, putting hand on hip and turning back to gaze at Ruby Rose with absolute disdain. "You missed this _how_?"

"Hey, I didn't exactly check the whole place out in one go! Just the kitchen and living room for obvious camping baddies - of which there were _none_ ," Ruby defended, blushing.

Raven huffed, striding forth and reaching for the handle of the metal trapdoor built into the middle of the bedroom floor. She flung it open and whipped out her sword. She paused, her eyes straying to Flora. "Any more stupid mistakes from here on out...and any one of them might be the one to cost your child her life. If it hasn't already been lost, along with your wife's," she added, with only a hair's thin touch of softness.

Flora nodded. "I understand."

"For her sake, I hope so." Raven took a step forward, boot right on the frame of the trapdoor. "Emerald - I want you to go down first; be prepared with that Semblance of yours to mask us from sight."

Emerald scanned the great group they had assembled in the tiny room. "This many people, I'm not sure if I can hold that for any decent length of time. But I'll try my best!" she said hastily.

"As long as you can will have to do," Raven responded simply. "Now, let's do this."

Emerald shuffled forward, pulling her weapons out. She took a deep breath, and then she jumped down into the darkness.

Flora brought up her Aura and jumped down right after her.

She hit hard and bent her knees on landing; it was a lot farther of a drop than she'd thought. She quickly moved out of the way as Raven came dropping down next.

After teams RWBY and JNPR joined them in the stone corridor, Flora gazed up and down it.

To her right, there was a dead end - just a plain stone wall, totally smooth and carved out.

To her let...a "T" intersection.

That was the way to go, then - the only way.

Flora started off for it, but a hand from Raven was yanking her back by the shoulder.

Raven gave her a look as she passed, taking the lead again - a shake of her head.

Flora frowned, and followed.

Lie Ren put hand on her arm, catching up with her.

"What is it?" Flora said quietly to the huntsman.

"You have to remain focused - put your feelings aside," Ren replied, just as quiet. "Believe me, I know; letting vengeance dictate your actions is only going to lead to recklessness, and mistakes - which could very well get you killed. You need calm, to center yourself before you engage an enemy."

Flora sighed, pulling away from the young man. But she gave him a nod; she knew he was right. She might have been brand new to going on a huntsmen rescue mission, but she wasn't new to that kind of advice: Cinder used to tell her all the time, during every sparring match - _think_ , _observe_ , _get creative, and wait for an opening_. And above all else...maintain your awareness of your surroundings, and of your enemies themselves.

But it was so much easier said than done - especially now. With this all-consuming cloud in her mind, this weight to her chest, and this _vibrating_ in her soul...

Her body trembled with it all, an outward reflection of the inner.

Raven led them down the hall - decided to take them right. Down a new one.

It wasn't long before they met their first sign of resistance; there were three people milling about, casual as could be, with weapons on their belts and backs.

A dust rifle, one with a skinny black scythe, and another with twin pistols.

Raven's eyes lit up, and she swept a hand forth almost casually; the three enemies were taken up in a mighty gust of wind, sent rolling and bouncing down the hallway like toys.

But they weren't too badly hurt - or even dead. Their Auras flickered, and they took their weapons up and came racing for Raven without hesitating.

Raven flew forward with Maiden winds swirling around her, sword slashing.

The one with the scythe engaged Raven directly. The rifleman retreated and took a knee, aiming for Flora and JNPR. The one with the dual handguns took a flying leap to sail over Raven and her compatriot, and came down right in front of Flora.

A pistol was thrust right at her, the trigger pulled! A powerful flaming Dust round struck her in the chest, bursting with fire and force to send her reeling back. The second pistol was twirled in hand, and then it was an electrifying dagger - which was promptly slashed across Flora's stomach with a streak of blue lightning.

Flora gasped, feeling the pain distant, even through her Aura, and hurled her first _real_ punch in life. The woman dodged her easily, ducking and shoving the pistol against her chest and pulling the trigger again. At the same time, she slashed the dagger twice more across Flora's stomach to make her Aura sputter something fierce.

Flora grabbed the woman's wrist and yanked herself inward, bringing up her knee to catch her in the gut; it worked, and the woman bent over from it, her red Aura flaring briefly!

And then Flora was regretting it when the woman placed her gun against her temple, and fired a third time.

Flora fell aside, hand going to her head, stumbling into the wall.

Team JNPR moved to engage the woman as one - a clean, cohesive unit of fighting prowess.

Flora clenched her fists, shaking her head, and refocusing herself. She looked past JNPR, beyond Raven, to the one with the rifle; the man was taking shots at Raven when he could, making her fight a bit more difficult.

Flora ran past JNPR, leaped high to soar over Raven and the scythe wielder, and came down a few feet from the rifleman. She burst forward with her Aura in a flying kick.

The rifleman straightened up, and just stood _waiting_ for her.

Flora's leg was grabbed, the rifle was aimed at her chest from the hip, and the trigger was pulled; a dozen rounds blasted into her. The rifleman twirled Flora around and slammed her into a wall, and then backflipped away and began firing on her _further_.

Flora focused on her Aura and wildly slashed her arm out in front of herself; a wave of energy blasted out, sweeping for the rifleman.

He just flipped up again to avoid it, and even fired a burst at her at height of his arc!

Flora managed to roll aside and avoid it this time, though; she was pleased with herself for _that_.

But this was definitely going to be far harder than she'd ever thought.

It made her admire these huntsmen all the more - and admire those memories of Cinder all the more; if her wife was still alive, if she was here...she would have wiped the _floor_ with these people.

But she wasn't.

And Flora just had to do her best to remember everything Cinder had ever taught her, if she wanted to even make it through this mission in one piece.

* * *

After descending two whole levels, flights of stone stairs, and fighting through many hallways that all looked the same (fights during which Flora had to rely heavily on her friends for assistance) - Flora, Raven, and Team JNPR finally found their objective.

Flora had lagged behind the others, and she hurried to catch up; she raced around the corner, and then she came to a dead halt.

Team JNPR were standing very still, weapons lowered.

Raven wasn't moving either, looking incredibly _tense_.

Cinder's mother - the resemblance was so horrifyingly striking that it left no question of _who_ she was, even if Flora had never seen her before - was holding Maggy by an arm, just _dangling her out in front of herself_ like a doll.

Maggy, who had a large gash on her forehead, who had one of her eyes swollen shut and discolored a sickening dark purple, who had a massive, deep laceration on her face, starting from her lip's corner and going all the way back to right beneath her right ear...

Maggy was screaming and crying and squirming, but it was all useless. She was helpless.

" _Let her go, let her go or I'll-_ " Flora was screaming.

Raven shoved her backwards, a hard look on her face. "Don't threaten people when you don't have the will to follow through on it - I _know_ you don't, and so does _she_. I, on the other hand..." She turned, and took a step toward Tyra, sword brandished. "Let the child go, or I'll take your head off. This is your only chance."

Tyra laughed at her, high over Maggy's pleadings and screams. "I don't doubt _you_. But it still won't do you any good. I-"

Maggy let out a piercing wail, and suddenly burst with a green light. An inexplicable, powerful wind erupted in the room - right from Maggy herself; Tyra dropped her out of sheer shock, and was sent flying back across the room. Tyra struck the wall so hard that the stone cracked.

Raven flexed her hand at her side, and a magical aura covered them all as the powerful wind reached them, threatening to sweep them off their feet as well! Her magic kept them rooted.

After several seconds, the winds died; in that time, Tyra merged with the wall and became shadow, disappearing - taking advantage of her own situation.

A green swirl of energy flickered across Maggy's small frame, and then it shattered into many shards that dissolved into the air.

Raven rushed forward, scooped her up in her arms, and then slashed her sword at the air. A swirling red portal appeared, which she immediately disappeared through with Maggy.

She returned a moment later, empty handed, sword sheathed.

The portal vanished.

Flora sighed from sheer relief, starting toward Raven with welling gratitude.

"Don't you dare." Raven held up a hand, eyes glinting; Flora stopped instantly, dropping her arms to her sides. "Stay focused for me: do you still want to look for your wife's body?"

Flora nodded. "Yes."

"Let's go, then." Raven rolled her neck, throwing a look at Team JNPR. "You three - stay or go?"

"We're not leaving yet," Jaune said strongly. "Ruby and the others might need our help elsewhere around here."

Raven gave a nod. "Then come on."

* * *

Emerald froze as she came into that first hallway again.

The stone wall was gone - there was a heavy door there now, torch brackets crackling.

Laid out on the floor were two bodies. Two very dead bodies, blood pooled under them, and heavy wounds to them.

"Wh-what is _that_?" Yang gaped. "That was never there before, was it? Ruby, Weiss?"

"No, no it was not," Weiss said, shaking her head and blinking rapidly at the sight. "Some kind of illusion Semblance?"

Yang gestured at the corpses. "Nobody's making any illusions _anymore_."

Ruby rubbed her eyes furiously, then blasted forward in roses to touch her hand to the door. She turned back, wide eyed. "It's real!"

A feeling in Emerald came like a strike of lightning. She gasped and strode forward, pushing the girl aside and yanking the door open wide. Hoping to see, hoping it was _possible_ -

Empty.

Except...there were signs that it once wasn't; a very cleanly broken little length of chain attached to a steel ring in the floor, blood dried on the floor in great splats and streaks...

Emerald whipped back around, gazing at the two bodies outside the doorway. She moved for them, reaching down - they were definitely dead. But they were also... _warm_.

Was it even possible? Was it really so obvious, two and two? Or was it just Emerald wanting to hope so badly she was grabbing anything to make it even a possibility?

"Cinder has to be alive!" Emerald said firmly, standing. "She had to have been _here_ , right here - and she got away - she killed them! She's out there somewhere! Right now! Right in this building! Or- or she got out through there." Emerald gestured up to the dark shoot for the trapdoor. "Yang, Weiss - go back up, look around for her. Ruby and I will search for her here. We'll go back through the place, we'll look _everywhere_ until we find her!"

"But that's impossible - your Maiden powers- she gave you- we all saw-" Ruby stammered.

"Her powers weren't taken the normal way!" Emerald insisted. "She- she could have lost them somehow, but still lived through it! She has to have. She has to be! Come on, go! We have to find her; I can't let her down!"

"If you really think so, then we will," Ruby agreed, nodding with determination. "Yang, Weiss - go on up. Look for her out in the woods."

"If that's your call," Yang said, sighing.

* * *

The thing about Semblances, was that unlike Maiden magic, they weren't infinite; if you waited long enough, even people with the largest pools of Aura, or the least draining Semblances - or even both - would have to let it go sometime.

And her captors had, after several lengthy minutes.

Cinder had made her move then, bursting out of the door and taking them by surprise.

She'd killed them with her chain, and the weapon she'd stolen up.

Constricting, relying on binding and close quarters strikes. Keeping them off balance and off foot.

She'd taken them both down.

Maybe it was luck, or they weren't too skilled - or she was just much better than she'd thought, even without an arm, or eyes to see with.

Whatever the case, Cinder was free now.

Superhuman senses aided her in navigating, brought fully to bear.

She raced for the opposite end of the hallway, intent on reaching her friends - those noises of battle echoing distantly.

Footsteps to her left as she reached the intersection on the opposite end of the hallway. "Hey! Put that down and get on the floor, right now!"

Cinder ran down the left hall, right for that voice, for those shifting boots in place.

She burst with Aura, slamming into a large body. She slashed the weapon across their torso, found the crackling of Aura there. A familiar crackling of energy, like lightning on her knuckles. Sheer muscle memory and spatial awareness alone to her, she flipped over their head and came down behind them - using her hand as a guide, trailing it from chest, up and over the shoulder, down to the shoulder blade on other side until she'd landed again. She grabbed the chain up in hand and looped it around their neck and tore it down, hanging from it with her whole body - they fell together onto hard stone, her enemy dragged unwillingly with a cry. Cinder grinded her weapon against their spine between them, holding the man apart from her with drawn up knees. She shoved her Aura through the weapon for greater force.

Aura sparked further, and then it broke, and shrill cries and wet hot splashes came down all over her front.

Cinder shoved the man off her and rolled away, hopping to her feet again.

She ran on, taking a right turn and reaching some stairs - which she almost barreled right down in utter stupidity.

After reaching the bottom, a new level in this hideout, Cinder was met with more opposition.

"How the fuck did you-" a woman's voice exclaimed.

Cinder sprinted forward and went into a slide, casting the chain out as she did. Around two legs it looped: she grabbed the end of it as it smacked into her own body, and _pulled_ ; her efforts were successful in yanking the woman off her feet - a loud thud and a hard _oof_ confirmed that for Cinder. She jumped to her feet and leapt down for the woman, putting the weight of a knee to her chest and bringing the buzzing blade down across her throat.

To her surprise, there was screaming and a splatter of hot liquid - this woman hadn't even had her Aura up!

_Idiot._

Cinder climbed up off her. She yanked her chain back and gave the weapon a twirl in hand.

And she pressed on, finding another right turn half way down the hallway she was currently in. She listened to the echoing noises of combat, and followed it down this new one.

It was so close now, it was so much louder.

She wondered absently just how big this place really was; she hadn't seen much of it when she'd had her sight - just the first hallway and a single room. Did it have even more than two levels? Three, four? Five or six? A massive, sprawling underground complex?

Cinder rounded yet another corner, heard a gasp, and then she slammed right into someone - this time quite by accident.

"Oh gods, Cinder! Cinder, you're alive, oh my _gods_ , I- I'm here, it's going to be alright! Raven found Maggy, she has her, she's safe - they portal'ed out, far away - now come on, let's get you out of here too!"

Cinder felt the chain go slack, heard it fall - severed from her collar by some bladed weapon.

Hands were taking her arm, lifting her up.

She let her weapon drop and staggered against familiar figure, and familiar scent inhaled.

_Flora._

Immediately, Cinder's head lolled forward, bowed, long, dirty, knotted hair over her face.

Hiding it all.

At some point Flora just lifted Cinder up and carried her in arms like a bride - her bride. It was really reminiscent of their wedding ceremony (except then, their positions had been reversed).

The air changed, a door was opened, and then another familiar voice.

"You look like you should be dead," Raven remarked, a trace of amusement in her voice.

Cinder didn't respond.

A feeling of freezing cold spread around her neck - the collar - and then metal shattered into hundreds of pieces, falling away to litter the floor.

Next a familiar feeling passed over Cinder's body, a warmth, a certain tingle - a noise.

Passing through one of Raven's portals.

Into a new place, a very quiet place.

A nice place.

It smelled good.

There was warmth from one direction - a window or door?

Cinder was set onto a bed.

Warm and soft...

"Cinder, you're safe now, it's alright. Can you- can you talk, or just- just nod? I need to know you're still...here. Please."

Cinder gave a simple nod.

"Alright, that's good." A hand on her head, stroking her hair. "Qrow, please go get her some water - something to eat, too!"

"You got it." Hasty footsteps, quick and fading.

"Cinder...do you think you could look up for me? Please? Look at me?"

Cinder lay back on the bed, and then turned on her side. Away from Flora.

A breath drawn sharply. "Alright. That's okay, that's fine."

Light footsteps returned. Qrow's voice, shocked - sickened. "Hey, have you checked out her...?"

"What's wrong?"

"Try taking a closer look at her face."

"What do you mean...? Oh...oh gods..." Cinder could just imagine the frown on her pretty lips. Some glimpse caught, something Cinder couldn't have... "Cinder, please, now I really _do_ need you to let me look at you..."

A hand on her destroyed remnants of shoulder, turning her over forcibly. Smaller, lighter hands brushing her hair away, precise as any combat maneuver in their sparring matches.

Utter silence.

"Oh my _gods_...Cinder! Oh my gods, I'm so sorry, I am _so_ -" Flora cut herself off. Her hand was squeezing now at Cinder, stroking at her. Caressing.

And then arms were enveloping her.

Cinder just went slack in that embrace, and cried silently.

* * *

After hardly an hour, there came the sound of the door opening slowly.

"Who's there?" Cinder said flatly.

Footsteps, uncertain. Shuffling. Stopped.

"Hey."

Cinder lay there a long moment. And then she started laughing. High, hysterical laughter. "What did Little Red have to do to get you to come in here for me? How much lien did it take to get you to agree to come and pretend to be nice and sweet to me?"

A sharp hissing breath taken in - likely through gritted teeth. "Look, I-" Yang began.

"What?! _What?!_ You know what it's like, you know how I feel? You're going to be here for me? You?!" Cinder shrieked. She threw herself out of the bed, hit the floor hard. She stood, banged her arm on the wall. She stalked forward, hand reaching out ahead blindly. " _What did she think was going to happen?!_ That we'd sit down, drink nice hot coco and talk about how much we have in common now?! That because we both lost a limb that that somehow means that _you are any less of a goddamn fucking cruel bitch, every bit as much as your fucking filthy mother, that you even give any half a shit about my situation, or- or-_ "

"No, alright? I don't think any of that, and I don't think Ruby did either! I just- felt like it was-"

Cinder found an arm. She seized it, worked her hand up along it, feeling forearm, shoulder- face. Her fist clenched, drew back, and she swung for it with a scream. " _Fuck you, fuck you, do you hear me, fuck you!_ " A strong hand took her wrist, immobilizing her arm with _ease_. _"Fuck._ _You_!" She thrashed and squirmed, she kicked out, she kneed, she spit and screamed and she _bit_! " _You're the last fucking person on this goddamn planet I ever wanted to see, who I ever wanted to have_ see me this way _\- get fucking lost, get out, fucking get the hell out!"_

That hand shoved out at her; Cinder fell hard to the floor, laid out on her side. "Yeah well you know what?! The feeling's mutual! Don't know why I even thought _you'd_ appreciate a bit of sympathy!"

" _Shut up, shut up, get away, I don't care, I fucking hate you, I'll fucking kill you, do you hear me?! I'll kill your bimbo ass!_ " Cinder hurled herself forward and felt for body, found feet, legs. She punched and hit with everything she had, every inch she could feel! " _Get out!_ "

"Fine, if that's what you want so bad! Good riddance - I hope you have a _miserable life_! Or, whatever you want to call this now, I guess!" Those boots pulled away from her violently. "It's not going to be much of one, is it?!" Stomping footsteps.

Cinder heard voices talking in the hall.

"Why did I even bother...?" Yang's snarling tones.

Flora's voice, reproachful, and hopeful. "At least you got a reaction out of her. That's...at least something good - she wasn't saying a word to me or Qrow..."

"Yeah, well...if you want another reaction out of her, don't call _me_ in again."

"I'm sorry she bit you."

"Yeah...just..."

Retreating footsteps, and silence.

And then a new voice, a small one. "Should I go and try talking to mom?"

"Bae - no." Flora's instant, firm tones. "You...you shouldn't see her like this. She's been through...a lot we don't know yet. And what we do know...she might like to pretend she can handle anything, but that just isn't true. It would be nice if it was - but it's not. So...it's best if _you_ give her space - give her time."

A high sigh. "Ok..."

"You can see her when she's ready to. I promise."

Cinder dragged herself over and back up onto the bed again, burrowing into the covers and shoving her face in the pillows.

Her fist trembled, held to her chest.

* * *

A few more hours, and another voice floated in to bother Cinder.

"Hi - Cinder!"

Cinder buried her face into the pillow even further.

Emerald persisted, her soft footfalls coming closer. Settling at her bedside, creaking wood of that small chair. A soft hand on her arm. "I'm so glad you're alright! I was so scared, I thought you might have died before we even got there. Everyone did, when your Maiden powers came flying right for us. Right- right for _me_. You...you gave them to me, you...t-thank you, Cinder, so much. I won't let you down!"

Cinder pulled her arm away.

Emerald didn't try reaching for her again.

Didn't mean she stopped talking.

"I...are you hungry again? Do you want more water? I could get something for you. Whatever you want!"

Cinder breathed.

"Do you want help with- a bath? You were in that place for a few days..."

Cinder didn't move.

"A-alright, well, when you do need...anything at all...just call for me."

That creaky chair again. Light feet wandering away.

That door closing.

Cinder rolled onto her other side, staring at nothing.

* * *

Not long after Emerald's attempt, two more people tried their hand at Cinder: Raven, who offered the lovely advice of, "This is just sad. Would you woman up already; you're stronger than this. I know you are."; and Hazel, who was actually a lot kinder in his - "You've come too far in life to let this finally kill you; don't let this obstacle block your path forward. Find a way around it."

And then, Flora came back for a second time.

"Cinder...please. I thought you were dead for _two whole days_. And now you're just acting like you are."

Cinder moved her head just so. She sighed. Why was everyone wasting so much effort on her? Why were they all _trying so hard_? She was just a failure, and now she was a useless failure. "Maybe I wish I was."

Flora's familiar, soft, warm hand on her shoulder. "I told you I was going to be there for you - and I am."

"Then be here for me..." Cinder muttered. "Just stop trying to make me talk; I don't want to talk. Got it?"

"Okay. You're right - I am sorry. I'm just so worried... Can I...?"

"Can you what?"

"Lay here with you a while."

"Yeah...sure...I- I've missed that."

Flora climbed into the bed with her, pressed to her. Slender hand stroked at Cinder's side.

"You really need a shower, you know that. You're gross - and it's not just the blood."

"I'm perfectly aware of that, thanks..." Cinder grumbled.

"And...?"

"And...I'll take one later."

"How about we do that in the next few minutes here?"

"Fine."

"Thank you."

For many minutes, there was silence between the two partners.

"You know..." Flora started.

"What?"

"Maggy did something amazing back there, in that awful place."

"What did she do?" Cinder asked, curious - and confused.

"It was Tyra, she...tried to use Maggy against us when we cornered her - a human shield. Maggy was so- so scared and upset, and Tyra hurt her arm, and...then she just lit up. There was this huge explosion of- of _wind_. Tyra dropped her, got sent into a wall. Maggy blew her across the entire room. It was so _strong_. We almost got knocked over from it, too; Raven had to root us down with some of her magic."

"Maggy unlocked a Semblance?" Cinder said, amazed.

"She did. It was powerful - incredible! She's been really excited about it now, trying to make it happen again. But, no luck so far..." Flora laughed. Cinder smiled, a strong sense of pride bursting in her chest. "But, that huntsman - Lie Ren - he's been working with her, and she _did_ manage to bring her Aura up for a few moments," Flora went on. "It was enough to heal her from...well, I think you'd know better about her state than me? But she's still going to have a really bad scar on her face now."

"Is it really...really bad?" Cinder asked.

"Not compared with any of yours, I guess," Flora said quickly. "Not that yours are anything bad, either - I love them, you love them. But for Maggy..."

"She's going to have to learn to love hers, too," Cinder stated.

"Yeah. But at her age..."

"Is it really going to be that much of a problem?"

"It- shouldn't be too- awful. We could always say it was a grimm attack."

"We could." Cinder worked her fingers up and down along the mattress, under cover of...covers. Push and pull, motions so familiar as to be automatic. Motions of scrubbing the bed down. "Did- did Tyra get away?"

"She did. Disappeared into shadows."

"What about Neo? Blake? Miltia...?"

"They weren't even there, as far as we know. They either got out long before even Tyra decided to, or they're doing something elsewhere in Remnant. Waiting, maybe. Plotting something." Flora sighed.

_Then none of this is even over yet. Not even close..._

"Can we get you into that shower now?" Flora said suddenly.

Cinder threw the blankets off, sitting up. "Sure. Let's go."

A hand taking hers.

Cinder pulled away, standing. "I don't need you treating me like I'm useless now; don't start."

A carefully taken breath. Carefully measured tones. "I wasn't holding your hand because you're a useless cripple who needs to be walked; I was holding your hand because you're my partner, and I missed holding it."

"Right. Okay." Cinder held her hand out for Flora to take again. "Sorry."

"I understand. It's okay. Why don't you lead?"

Cinder hesitated. She let her head drop, teeth clenched. "You- you should probably...get us there."

"If that's what you want."

Cinder let Flora guide her out of the room. Down a narrow hall, through a door on her left. Cinder let go and started exploring the bathroom on her own, taking note of the layout. Her blind hand knocked over a few things - but Flora didn't say a word about it.

The pounding of running water.

The humidity of steam.

Hot flesh pressing against her, bare on bare. "It's safe to hop in now."

"Thanks..."

Cinder shuffled her way forward, sticking a foot out for the edge of the tub. She stepped over and into it, under hot, streaming waters.

Flora joined her, staying close to her still.

Cinder leaned against the shower wall, bringing her hand up to her chest and bowing her head. Letting her hair soak through, sighing as the waters ran their course down her body.

She relaxed entirely, and let her mind drift off.

At some point, Flora had put her arms around her from behind. Just held her - didn't try making her talk again. Didn't even talk to her, herself.

Just...like that. For a long time.

Although, it came to a point where Cinder was suddenly jarred out of her mind by a wet cloth against her backside.

"I can do that myself..." Cinder murmured.

"Then you'd better hurry - it's going to get really cold soon," Flora laughed.

Cinder shook her head, noting that the water _had_ become a whole lot cooler.

Either it was terrible pipework, or she'd gotten lost in her own head for far longer than she'd meant to.

Flora pressed a soap bar to her palm, and Cinder took up viciously scrubbing herself down. Or, trying to.

She slipped up twice. And then a third time.

She turned and punched the wall with a snarl! She punched it again, and again, and then she kicked at it-

"Cinder, stop, stop, it's okay - it's okay!"

"IT'S NOT OKAY, I'M- I CAN'T- WHAT DO I-" Cinder dropped to the bottom of the tub and slammed her forehead into the wall next. "How am I supposed to even..."

Flora's arms around her, holding her tight from behind. "You'll figure it out, you'll get used to it - it'll get better. It's only been-"

"I _w-won't_...I'm more- h-helpless than I ever was as a kid, I can't even...if I can't even shower right, how am I going to fight? How am I going to do- _anything?_ "

"We'll work on it, you'll get the hang of it! You're not helpless, you're not-"

"I can't do anything...I can't walk without you, I can't shower without you - what about the big things? What about work? What about caring for Maggy? What about p-picking up Bae from school? What about- how am I supposed to keep teaching you how to fight when I can't fight anymore? If I can't even d-do _this_ on my own anymore..."

"It's brand new, it's frustrating, it's scary - but it's not always going to be. I swear it. You _are not helpless - or useless either!_ You just need time, and patience, and...to adjust. I'll help you adjust, okay? I'm here for you."

Cinder twisted around in Flora's arms, reaching for her face. Caressing. She leaned in and pressed a kiss to her. Hard, with shaking lips. " _Y-you're going to have to be here for me for...every second of every day. Because I'm just...I can't..._ "

"Then I will be. If that's what you need from me."

Cinder pressed as much as she could to Flora, kissing quick and desperate, hand roaming - shoulders, arms, neck, chest and stomach. She pushed her back, down, and lay atop her in the tub. She let a quivering breath go, dipping her head. Lips worked, tongue flicked - Flora's hands were in her hair, on her head, soft little noises and quivering breaths of her own as Cinder assailed her breasts. Her sole hand moved far down between them, finding already parted thighs and a slightly raised knee. Cinder's fingers touched, circled - pressed. Flora's pleasant tones, her words drifting to her, soft, encouraging...quickening breaths, sharp, shallow - her body beneath Cinder, moving, squirming, muscles tightening...pressing up to meet her with an urgency to match Cinder's...

Cinder swiftly abandoned Flora's breasts in favor of sliding her way further down - below stomach - to replace working hand with a well working mouth where it was needed best. Hand held thigh, caressed and squeezed at lifting buttocks - it was far more difficult than usual to stay on target. But Cinder realized Flora was trying her best to help her out with that, also...more than usual. Flora usually kicked around about as much during sex as she did in her sleep. She wasn't as much, this time, she was trying extra hard - but it was still starting to get a bit...

A long, soft sigh, and a slack form under Cinder.

Cinder moved up Flora's body again, holding her head above resting chest, where every heaving breath was coming from in aftermath of success. Then, she just turned her head and lay it down there.

Cinder felt a pair of lips pressing to the top of her head.

"There you go, see; you still have it," Flora's cheerful words, breathless.

"I- I do? That wasn't...?" Cinder began, breathing hard herself. She brought her hand up and found one of Flora's, entwining their fingers. "I-it...wasn't really as...good as usual, though, was it?"

"I thought we'd worked on those self esteem issues a long time ago." Cinder could almost see the frown.

"Was it?" she persisted, regardless.

" _It was,_ " Flora said firmly. "It was every bit as good and wonderful as before."

"Even without-"

"Cinder: the hand you still have works _just fine_ \- and your mouth _definitely does_. You're as wonderfully skilled as ever, down an arm or not. Anyways, what do you really need another hand for?" Flora continued, amused. "I don't remember you ever using it for anything too critical to the experience..."

"W-well, I did like to be...down there with both...sometimes. If I'm just using the one I have left now to just- keep a grip- how am I going to even handle anything else? More than one thing?"

"It was only sometimes - did you really like doing it _that much_?"

"There goes that forever, I guess, then," Cinder said hopelessly.

"Oh...you _did_. Oh, gods - honey, look, I'm sure you can find plenty of creative ways to make up for that."

"I- suppose..."

"Besides, you might actually still be able to pull something like that off if we get a bit twisty," Flora assured. "Thank gods for all those combat training sessions; I've gotten pretty flexible."

"You r-really think I could still...?"

"We can figure something out," Flora said confidently. "It'll be fun!"

Cinder smiled. "Y-yeah, okay..." She hesitated. "S-so, did you- it was good?"

"Yes! It was great. Really great. Thank you. Would like me to do you, now?"

"No...I just- you...I was just happy to make _you_ feel nice again." _And to figure out if I even still can. At least I'm not useless to her that way._

"Alright. Thank you, honey. It was so great."

"Do you know where the soap went?" Cinder asked, sighing.

A shifting leg. "Somewhere by your foot."

"Could you get it?"

"If you get off of me."

"I really like it here..."

"And I really love having you here," Flora agreed. "But it's _really_ starting to get colder now - so we should get this done for you."

Cinder pushed herself up, sitting back against the wall. She sat a long moment. She let her head drop, cheeks hot. "C-could you...just wash me?" she mumbled out. "And- my hair, too? Please?"

"Sure."

After finishing up and stepping out - toweling off - Flora pressed some clothes to Cinder.

"I went out earlier and got these for you," Flora told her.

Cinder examined them with caressing fingers: nice enough undergarments - her favorite type - and a gown of some sort. Gowns were fine. "Thanks."

"You're welcome."

Cinder dressed, and then- she froze.

"What is it?" Flora asked.

"I...is there a brush around?"

A handle smacked into Cinder's palm. "Here - I bought it too."

"With what money?"

"Team RWBY's money."

"Specifically... _Y's_ money?"

"She pitched in a bit," Flora said evenly.

_Hah. Screw you, brat._

Cinder leaned against the sink, bringing the brush to her head. She quickly found herself met with what seemed an impossible task; she ended up swearing and tossing the brush down, whirling away with a stamp of a foot.

"We can work on it," Flora said quietly. "We can figure it out. Or- you can get cybernetics. After this is over. A nice new arm - even some good eyes; there are great ones these days, aren't there?"

"Great ones, sure - but they cost a fortune, and we lost our money, remember?" Cinder responded, biting back a snarl.

"We'll make more - and we could even get help with it," Flora said quickly.

"Right...but until _then_..." Cinder blew out a harsh breath.

"Do you want me to help you again - just real fast?"

"No. Just forget it. We have more important problems than hair care."

"Okay."

Cinder moved for the door.

Flora caught up to her and took her hand again; Cinder let her keep it.

* * *

After a long hour of debriefing everyone on everything Cinder had learned in that place, she took the shot at Raven's daughter that she'd been holding in the entire time (she'd gone through a few different alternatives in her mind, before settling on this one).

"Hey - Xaio Long."

"What?" came the snippy response.

Cinder pulled a wide smirk. "Thanks for the outfit."

"It was no trouble," Yang gritted.

"I'm glad to hear that; maybe you won't mind helping me out again later."

"Look, it wasn't- _ow, Ruby!_ " A sharp gasp of pain, followed by a sigh. "Of course not."

"Wonderful; with not having a wallet of my own anymore, I'm _glad_ to be able to use yours." Yes, Cinder knew well she was being petty - but _damn_ did she love being able to be petty to _someone_ right now.

The meeting ended; Cinder stood as everyone began to break apart, swiftly moving for where she'd last heard a particular other voice. "Lie Ren, Nora Valkyrie, Jaune Arc."

"Yes?" Ren's voice came, calm as could be.

"What do you want?" Jaune asked, only passably civil.

Cinder took a calming breath. "I just wanted to thank you for saving my daughter's life," she said, in the sincerest of voices.

"Yeah, well, it was for her - not you," Jaune muttered.

"Jaune," Nora warned.

A sigh. "We were happy to help you."

Cinder turned her head towards Ren. "And I wanted to speak to you."

"What about?" Ren asked, confused.

"You have an extremely highly attuned sense of Aura. Your _senses_ are highly attuned."

"They are, yes." A pause. "You're hoping for my help in training up yours due to your newfound condition."

"Y-yes," Cinder admitted. "I want you to teach me. I've never been- good with that aspect of Aura application."

"I understand where you're coming from - but it's not something that can simply be taught in a couple of hours. Or even weeks. It takes years of dedicated-"

"I'm aware," Cinder interrupted firmly. "I'm not asking you to sit down with me right now and start on it. Just...be around later. Please?"

"Of course. Whenever you feel you're ready; I would be honored. But I don't pretend to be an expert, myself," he concluded in warning.

"You're the closest I have on hand," Cinder replied. _Why did I say it like that?_

"Well..."

"Well...good."

"I hope you well in your recovery."

Cinder managed a small smile. "Thank you. And..."

"Yes?" Ren said patiently.

"Thank you, also, for helping Maggy - her aura. I heard you...earlier."

"It was only for a few seconds - but, she was quite the attentive student, to have managed even that much at her age," Ren said lightly.

"How did you teach it to her? How did you...get her to do it?"

"I was only a handful of years older than her when I unlocked mine," Ren replied. "And it was under...similarly stressful circumstances."

Cinder nodded. "I'm sorry to hear that."

"I've made my peace with it. I hope that your daughter will find peace with hers."

"Thank you. I'll see you around. Or- well- damnit, can't even say that anymore..."

"And I, you, Ms. Rynon," Ren spoke, entirely serious - as if he hadn't even heard that last part.

Cinder...appreciated that.

* * *

After returning to her own little room to _attempt_ sleeping, Cinder was alerted to a presence in late hours of night - Cinder felt the warmth, the small weight on the bed with her.

She turned her head. "Maggy..."

"You ok mommy?"

"No. I'm not - what are you doing up still?"

"I'm sorry, mommy...can't sleep at all..."

"I can't either - you want to sleep with me, then?"

"Yes please..."

"Okay."

"I'm sorry mommy...You got hurt too?" Maggy questioned.

"Yes..."

Tiny hands on her shoulder stump. "'m sorry mommy. Make it better?" Small lips pressed to it.

"No, sweetie - this isn't...you can't just kiss it better." Cinder paused. "But I could...get a...metal one. Plastic. A fake one. Like...like one of your toys."

"When?"

"I don't know."

That body laying atop her flank now, splayed over her stump. Hugging her. "I'm sorry mommy..."

"Why do you keep saying that?" Cinder asked quietly, absent.

"Cuz...Tyra said-"

Cinder's chest grew tight. "Tyra said _what_?"

"Tyra said...said she hurt you cuz of me. Cuz she took me, made mommy find me...I got mommy hurt. Tyra said it was my...my _fault_."

Cinder slowly pulled her arm free, rolled over onto her backside, and squeezed Maggy in a tight embrace. She lifted her head and pressed her lips to the top of hers, that messy hair and fragrance she loved. " _Don't ever_ listen to what she says. Ignore her. Forget it, Maggy. Forever. It was not...ever, ever, ever, never forever... _not your fault_. Do you hear me?"

"Y-yes mommy..."

"It _was not_ your fault. It's _never_ going to be your fault. _Never_!"

"Ok mommy..." Maggy said, in the most dismissive tone imaginable. Then, in a much more distressed tone. "Still sorry you're hurt..."

"I'm sorry _you're_ hurt. I'm your mommy, I should've protected you, kept you safe. It's my fault, not yours."

"Both our faults!" Maggy cried.

"Maggy, no - just _me_. _My fault._ Never _you_. It was _all mommy's fault_."

"Still _feels_ like my fault!" Maggy sobbed. "If I made wind faster maybe mommy not get hurt!"

Made wind...that was right. Her Semblance, unlocked in a most critical of time. A powerful one, at that. But...something that would, like the permanent scar on her face, serve as a permanent reminder of these horrible thoughts and feelings inside her little mind and soul right now. Drilled into her head by Cinder's biological mother, over the course of days of captivity.

Cinder squeezed her tighter, fighting back a sob of her own.

She wasn't successful at holding it in.

She took up stroking Maggy's hair. Her back. Maggy buried her face in her chest as she continued to cry.

They cried together.

And in the silence when they finally stopped, a thought came to Cinder.

Thoughts that...should have come much earlier.

She pulled her hand away from Maggy's body, down to her side.

"Maggy?"

"Yes mommy?"

"When you were...with Tyra...away from me - did she- hurt you more than just...on the face? Or your arm? Did she hit you, or- or use fire, or- electricity? Anything else like that?"

"Few times."

"A few times...what? Sweetie?"

"Hit me. Mostly when I yelled at her."

"You yelled at her."

"Yes..."

"What did you say?"

"Lots of things I hear you say before."

 _Oh._ "What...kinds of things? Bad things? Like- the things Flora is always saying I shouldn't say around you and Bae?"

"Yes."

"Like...?"

"Mmm...said she's a brain dead idiot, said she's stupid to hurt me cuz mommy will hurt her more for it, said she's a big fucking asshole who-"

"Okay, those are definitely things I've said before!" Cinder interjected, cheeks hot. "Things that you...are not going to go saying to other kids. Right? Or we are going to be spending a really long time working on that with you."

"Right! Maybe..."

"No 'maybe', just no." Cinder paused. "But it was okay to say them to _her_. I'm- really proud that you did. Even if she...hit you."

"It's just what you would say to her! What _did you_ say to her mommy?" Maggy asked eagerly.

"Well- just- a lot of the same things," Cinder stammered out.

"Bet!" Maggy giggled.

"Y-yes, well..." Cinder sighed, letting them fall into silence again. A comfortable one, for once. Because she had to make it very uncomfortable soon by breaking it.

"Maggy..."

"What mommy?"

"You're sure she never- hurt you in any other ways?"

"Nope."

"Are you- really sure? I- she- she never- did anyone ever...You know how we taught you that nobody is ever supposed to- to look at you under your clothes, or to- to put their hands on you in certain places? Not even Neo, or Emerald, or Blake? And not even me or Flora?"

"Except if I get dirty and in the bath with mommy, or if I get hurt and mommy has to look to fix it-"

"Maggy. Did anyone. Ever. Do that to you?"

"No! Mommy Flora asked too already!"

"She did?"

"Yes, she asked _hours ago!_ " Maggy _huffed_. "Like ten times! I said no ten times!"

"Okay, then." Cinder breathed, replacing her hand on back of Maggy's head. "Good..."

"People did that to _you_ though mommy. I'm really sorry..."

 _Right_ , Cinder realized. She had been naked in that room. Blind to her own nakedness, ignoring it fairly easily after a point. Because it hadn't been for _those_ reasons - just to deprive her of any weapons or resources. But how the hell do you explain that to your distraught little girl who _still clearly thought it was her fault!_ Well, you tried. "Sweetie - no, no, it wasn't- _no_. Nobody ever- well, I guess some people looked at me, but...nobody ever _touched me like that_. But it wasn't- like that. It was just...they had to make sure I wasn't going to hurt them, try to get away. You know, with my swords? Like when mommy and Flora go out play fighting?"

"But for real."

"Yes, that's right. They just didn't want me to fight. They wanted to make sure I didn't have any swords around."

"You didn't get touched where nobody's s'pose to either?" The most critical of voices - Cinder could imagine shrewd little eyes gazing at her, those cute eyebrows drawn in...

"I didn't," Cinder said firmly. "Nobody ever did that to me. But, thank you for...asking. That is really- so good of you."

"Can I fight with you and mommy Flora too?" Maggy said suddenly. "I want to learn how to do that too! I can use my wind!" she concluded.

"Of course, sweetie," Cinder said instantly. "But...we're _just_ going to teach you how to use your wind. At least until you're older."

Maggy lay back down on her again, sighing contentedly. "I don't want nobody to hurt me again."

"Anybody," Cinder corrected absently. She sighed. "And, sweetie...you did see me in there. Sometimes you just can't...you just can't stop yourself from getting hurt. Even if you're strong, and fast, and even magic."

"Maybe. But you can still get _rescued_ and then hurt them back after," Maggy said brightly.

Cinder snorted, and then she was laughing. "Right, yes you can..."

"Are you gonna hurt Tyra later?"

"Okay, calm down, you little blood knight. I don't need Flora chewing me out over how you're copying me _too much_."

Maggy huffed. "Just want her to hurt too. I hate her! She's stupid and evil and bad and a jackass bitch who-"

"I know! I know. I feel...just as mad. Okay? I'm mad too. I hate her too. It- sucks that we got hurt. But..." Cinder sighed. She hugged Maggy closer. "We can't just- go being mad all the time now. We have to try to- forget her, and be happy. Can you try that?"

"I can _try_ , mommy."

"Good. Then let's try."

"Ok..."

Cinder held her daughter a long time, endless hours she thought she could enjoy - as opposed to the endless hours she'd hated in that place with her mother.

"Maggy?"

"Yes?"

"Is your face okay? Where Tyra- hurt you?"

"Aura made it better real fast."

"I know, but..." Cinder carefully reached for Maggy's face. There was a scar there on the right side of her face, alright - set and formed over already. And it was huge. Wide and deep, and...very long; her finger shakily traced along it - starting from the corner of Maggy's lip, back across her cheek, all the way to just below the right ear.

_Just a little cut on the cheek..._

"I- I'm _so sorry..._ "

Maggy patted Cinder's hand - something she had to have picked up from watching her and Flora before. "It's ok mommy. Doesn't hurt at all."

"T-that's not the _point_..."

"Please don't cry again mommy!"

"T-trust me, sweetie, I'm doing my b-best not to again..."

Maggy pressed to her and started stroking Cinder's hair, cooing at her little assurances and comforts.

Cinder thought it was all actually rather effective.

Cinder hugged her tighter and rolled over onto her side with her, clutching her to herself.

"Try to sleep for me, okay?"

"Just try?"

"Yes. It's okay if you can't. I might not, either."

"I did nap earlier..."

"Good, then."

"Try to sleep mommy."

Cinder scoffed. "I'm the one who tells _you_ what to do. Remember?"

"No."

_Nnnnnggggg..._

"I'm going to sleep - be quiet."

"Ok. Oops! I'm quiet..."

Cinder sighed.

But, mercifully, silence did come - and so, too, did sleep, in time.

Just before drifting off into slumber, an alien thought surfaced in Cinder's mind. A thought heard in a voice not her own - familiar, but not _hers_.

_We're almost ready..._


	9. The Oldest Form Of Hell Part 1

In earliest morning Cinder awoke. Woke to softness, and to warmth.

She removed her arm from around Maggy and carefully, quietly escaped the bed - tucked the covers in around her after.

Bare feet touched hardwood floor. Chilled, sleek - and detectably filthy. She froze, lifting a foot and running her toes across the planks; one was loose, and there was a clump of dirt, and a long dried, heavy stain of some sort. She hadn't noticed it the other night!

With heart beating furiously and a tightness in her chest, Cinder dropped to her knees and put her palm to the floor. She was certain now: _certain it_ _had to_ _go_.

She kneeled there for a long moment, realizing she had no idea exactly where she might find any of her usual tools in this place. She'd try real quick first without, then. Just real quick!

Cinder grabbed up the hem of her gown, drawing it up to her face; she mustered up all the spit she could and, well, _spat_ furiously. The feeling was mounting, it needed to be done, before the footsteps or the voice cutting across the world to her, before the squeak of the old door to the room she called hers...

She scrubbed furiously, upending the dirt. She felt a rush of relief. But it was gone next moment; she couldn't do anything about the stain yet! But the dust, at least, she could do away with.

Cinder buried her fist in her gown and took up methodical swiping, right to left, until it was all gathered finely against the nearest wall. She crawled over a few more feet to her right, repeating this method again to gather more.

She knew she'd catch hell for ruining her clothes, but that could rarely ever be helped - she always just took it. At least _that_ punishment. Because it was light compared to the things in store for her if she utterly failed _the entire task_.

Untold time later - time never mattered, just _doing it_ , no matter how long it took - Cinder emerged from the methodical movements and her own mind at last. She stood, giving her gown a smoothing out and a swiping down anyways (it never hurt anything; but it did make _Cinder_ personally feel better).

She moved swiftly and silently for the door, slipping out into the hall. She touched her hand to the wall as she found her way to the bathroom. Several frantic minutes were spent on locating what she desperately needed. Under the sink she snatched up the first bottle her hand made contact with - brought it to nose. She set it back down and found another, familiar in shape before she even took a whiff, and recognizable in scent before it reached her nose physically (it was always a powerful smell). It was the one she needed. She held it to herself with care as she straightened. Momentarily set it on the counter to reach for the nice sponge she'd noticed the other night, when she had been in here with Flora.

Taking both items in single hand, holding them to her body, she shuffled out back down the hall, back to that small room.

This wasn't going to be too bad - Cinder was comfortable enough working in the dark. It would be a lot more challenging in _total_ darkness, but it was a challenge she'd take on. She had to. She was also reasonably comfortable doing this with one arm; it wasn't like she hadn't had one broken before, either from accident or her stepfamily going a bit too far... She could do this.

She leaned her whole body low and set the bottle down with hardly a sound - the sponge, too, noting its position.

Cinder unscrewed the cap on the bottle - nudged the sponge a bit more to the left - and upturned it. Just a dash!

She closed the bottle and set it directly beneath the bed, right up against a bedpost, where she was certain she wouldn't accidentally knock it over during her work.

She was missing something, however - but what?

She squeezed and unclenched the sponge in her fist. Then it came to her. Of course!

She rose to her feet and snatched up an empty food bowl off the nightstand, and took a swift trip back to the bathroom to fill it with water before returning to the room again. After another moment of panicked idiocy, she made a second trip to liberate a tiny trash bin for her use as well.

Now she had everything; she was sure of it! She had to be sure!

Cinder lowered herself back to the floor, drew a breath and took a pause to mentally orient herself - just to be _sure_ \- and then she took up the sponge and started with the methodical scrubbing born of a lifetime of familiarity.

It was time to be very, very thorough.

After finishing the entire floor - underneath the dresser and the bed included - Cinder heard the noises starting up in the rest of the house.

She quickly stood and set to work on the furniture. Surfaces, sides, bed frame - all done. After that, she stepped over to the nearest wall to begin there - a mess of cobwebs, peeled paint, and general grime.

It all _had to go_!

Footsteps - the door's handle turning. The creak...

"Cinder, hey, are you-"

" _I'm nearly finished, ma'am!_ " Cinder whirled, bowing her head and slinging her arm across her stomach. "I just need to-"

"Cinder...it's alright, it's j-just me. Just Flora. And you didn't have to...do all of this." A long pause. "It looks - amazing - but this was only ever going to be a temporary place to stay. I'm sure that Qrow's old buddies will be...happy to see what you've done with it so far, but it wasn't necessary."

Footsteps entering the room; Cinder flinched, squeezing the sponge in tight fist.

"It's alright, honey. Still just me. Look, I just need to get Maggy up for breakfast, that's all. If you- really want to keep going with this, that's fine. That's w-wonderfully kind of you. It's so- so thoughtful, and I'll leave you to it. Just...let me slip by here and grab Maggy..."

After Flora had left, Cinder returned to her task vigorously.

* * *

After finishing up the bedroom, Cinder moved out into the hall to continue her work.

She found a closet there, with broom and dust pan; she liberated these, along with moved her other cleaning items out with her too.

Endless minutes were put into this task, until her arm began to take on a familiar ache. It was a real challenge, figuring out how best to even do this with a single limb - but it was one she took to with a fervor. Put a foot to the dust pan, hold it to the base of the wall, and take the broom in hand by its lowest point - pole tucked under arm. It was awkward and strange, but it worked for her.

Even as footsteps came and went, even as voices sounded over head.

Until one voice, familiar footfalls, and then a slender hand on her shoulder and a presence beside her.

"Cinder, I think it's time to take a break from all this. You need to eat...and maybe try spending a little time with Bae."

"I c-couldn't do _that_ , I'm not finished yet," Cinder protested, furiously shaking her head. "It's _not finished yet_ ; you don't eat until it's all _done_!"

"No, no, it doesn't have to be. I'm sure no one is going to be angry with you if you just stop for half an hour or so. And, you need to eat _now_ so you can work better _later_."

"I can't!"

"You need to. Come on. There are some things Bae needs to hear from you."

"She can't hear them from you?" Cinder said, panicky. Brain throwing out the first argument it could form.

"I've already told her what I can. Now it's your turn to tell her what _you can_."

"B-but I..."

"Cinder. Please."

"I- okay...but I'm getting right back to it after! I have to."

"You don't _have to_ \- but, alright. That's fine."

"What does she need to hear from me?"

"That you're okay - that things are going to turn out okay for us. She needs reassurance - and she can only get that from _you_. You know she worships you almost as badly as Emerald does."

"She worships the Fall Maiden from fairy tales," Cinder muttered. "And I'm not her anymore. I can't _be that for_ _her_ anymore."

"That's true," Flora said plainly. "But you can still be her mom for her. And that will be enough for her - I promise. Just try for her. Please..."

"Okay. I'll- see what I can do. But not- not just yet! I need...time to..."

"As long as you get around to it soon, that's fine. Thank you."

Cinder cringed as she dropped the broom.

She took great pains to move everything off to the side before she finally went with Flora to get something to eat.

Flora complimented her on being "very organized" and that she wondered "where all this effort was at home the past two years."

"You have been really, _really_ half-assing it, haven't you?" Flora's laughter carried across the table.

Cinder took a quick bite and cringed in her seat. "I'm s-sorry; I'll do better from now on."

"Oh no, no! I don't want you working yourself to _death_. But, even just ten percent of the effort you've shown this morning would go a long way," Flora concluded.

"I swear I'll do better."

"Well, we'll have to talk about that," Flora said with a sigh. "I think _your_ idea of 'better' and _my_ idea of 'better' are very different. And 'normal.'"

Cinder shoveled more food into her mouth as quick as she could, head down.

Although quiet came between them, it didn't take Flora long to break it once again.

"Cinder," came the most delicate pronunciations. "when I found you in that place, you were..."

"I was naked, yes, I know," Cinder said flatly. "It was nothing - not what you're thinking."

"Was it?" Softest tones.

"It really wasn't - at all," Cinder said firmly. "And it wasn't anything I wasn't already used to - I told you I could handle it."

"Alright." A pause. "Could you tell me?"

Cinder shrugged. "What's there to tell? My stepmother liked to punish me sometimes in a similar enough way; she'd strip me down, lock me in this tiny, dusty room with a window with no glass on cold nights - make sure I'd freeze my little ass off and decide to do better the next day. It was west wing, second floor. Close enough to my stepsister's rooms. They liked to stand at the door and hurl insults at me for a few hours, at Lady Nuveri's encouragement. They were glad to help, to have a hand in my punishments."

"I see. Well, I'm really glad, then, that that's all it was. As horrible enough as _that_ is to think about."

"Yes...well...you said it: my normal isn't _your_ normal - or anyone else's." Cinder rose to her feet. "We need to find Tyra again. Blake and Neo, and Miltia, too. We're just back at square one."

**_Not exactly..._ **

Cinder gasped, clutching hand to her head.

The world spun and thrashed, and then she found herself on her knees.

"Cinder, are you okay?" Flora was at her side in an instant - as ever.

"Y-yes, it's just- Imryll. She's starting to wake up in here, even if I didn't finish it."

"But she isn't fully awake yet."

"No, she's not. But I'd bet Tyra will try and force me into finishing it soon enough."

"We won't let her."

"I hope so. This isn't fun..."

Flora's hand on her arm, helping her back to the table. Screeching chair legs, a warmth pressing to her. Side by side they sat now, in another kind of silence. "Cinder...this might be the most inappropriate time to ask, but I think it has to be."

"What?"

"Your mother...she...she is an Ascendant, isn't she? She has that plague in her. The same one that turned Blake, and Neo, and Miltia against us. Turned them...to Imryll's will."

"I- she is. What of it?"

"You want to free our friends, you're scared for them. And you even feel sympathy for Imryll. You want to help her, at least her. But Tyra...all you want is to kill her with a passion. Why? Isn't she same as them? Her mind warped, her will...slaved to that girl's? If we freed her too, wouldn't she-"

"What? You think she'd turn around and be some happy go lucky, loving mom to me? Like it was some fairy tale, like the evil witch had her under a spell the whole time, and it was never her?!"

"Well...isn't that how it is?"

"No! The things she's _done_ \- the worst things she's done...she told me herself, in there. She _told me_. And what she did...she did them _before_ she became an Ascendant. She did them all by herself, of her own free will! For that, I'm going to kill her! For my _dad_ -"

"Your dad? Is that what it is? Did Tyra do something to hurt him before?"

Cinder's lip curled. Her nails drew blood in her palm. "She...she said it to me herself. She- she raped h-him. Multiple times over, just- just to get _me_ \- just because the Order told her to. And that was all _before_ , it was _before_!"

"I am so sorry. That's horrific, and disgusting, and...I'm sorry. But, surely, if the Order...ordered her to do that, then it had to have been under duress. Like the way they forced _you_ to do what they wanted by using Maggy against you-"

" _No, Flora, it wasn't!_ "

"So that's it? You just want her dead? No matter what."

"You don't understand. You can't; you grew up with two happy, loving parents in a normal-as-could-be home. From birth to age of maturity. You went to a normal school, you had wonderful relatives, and you've never had to really ever imagine...you don't _know_..."

"Maybe you're right. Maybe I just can't understand. She isn't my mother, it wasn't my father, and even with all the empathy in the world, I can't imagine what I would do if I learned what you did about them. About how my own birth happened. But I still don't think-"

"I don't _care_. She dies. End of story."

A breath drawn. "And how are you going to do that, now?" Flora's voice was sharp as any blade.

Cinder froze. Her shoulders sagged - her head dropped.

"Cinder...haven't you killed enough people in cold blood in your life? Why add your own mother to that list too? When- you could save her, or...or at least spare her...?"

Cinder pulled away. "I d-don't _want_ to spare her..."

"Clearly. But maybe...you should do it anyways?"

"How can you _not_ want to kill her? You met her, you _saw_ how she treated Maggy! I don't- _understand_..." Cinder choked.

"Honestly? I did want to. But that was me falling into the same trap as you, making the same mistake as you, Cinder - it was just _emotion_. And maybe I would _still_ want to - if that was all I saw. All I knew. But I can't ignore everything else I know about her situation. Because everything else I know, the context of her actions, it points to her not being all too culpable for them."

"How the _hell_ can you say that?!"

"Cinder, forgetting her, just talking about _you_ for a second here: if everyone went around killing everyone they _wanted_ to kill so badly, the world would be a hell of a lot emptier." A trace of amusement in that lovely voice. "Talking about _you_...you don't want to kill our friends, or even Imryll, and you feel so bad about the people you a-already have...but you really still want to just go do it anyways - excuse it? Excuse one murder, while decrying the others? Maybe you haven't exactly changed as much as I thought these last two years, if you still don't get that. If you still don't see...that that is still _just as wrong_ of a mindset to have."

Cinder let her head drop. "Then maybe I haven't..." she agreed, whispering. Stomach twisting up at her own words.

A sigh. "Well, that's just all the more reason not to let you do it; you need to really think about this, Cinder. Think about yourself: do you really want to feel awful about it for the rest of your life, pile one more onto all the others?"

"I w-wouldn't feel b-bad about _her_ -"

"Bullshit," Flora's voice came, in simple tones. "We both know that's just bull. Don't lie to me, and don't lie to yourself. I thought we'd left _that_ behind a long time ago, too."

Cinder's unwillingly recalled her mother's outburst, claims that she didn't want to do any of it, and the real remorse in her voice when she'd told her about circumstances surrounding her conception. And she recalled, too, the way Tyra had suddenly seemed to be in such pain, clutching at her head in much the same way _Cinder_ _had just_...

_No!_

Cinder pressed her fist into her chest, shaking her head.

Flora's arms slid around her, pulling her into embrace.

* * *

"You know, I never took you for a clean freak."

Cinder tensed, head whipping up. "I'm not..." she murmured, resuming her work.

"Well, whatever you _are_ , you're damn relentless with this; I know a few people who are going to be real pleased when they come back home again." Qrow's familiar chuckle. "Seriously, this is some great work here. You always been this good at cleaning, or is it something you picked up these past two years with the family?"

"The first one," Cinder muttered. "It's the only thing I can do now for anyone..."

"Ah. We're doing self-pity, huh?"

"No, it's just a fact," Cinder replied. "I can't fight anymore, I can't-"

"And you think that's the only thing that matters? Seriously? That just 'cause you've lost that one capability of yours, that it means you're just-"

"Well, obviously not - I still can do _this_ ," Cinder interrupted pointedly.

"Sure, but you're not doing it with a smile on that face of yours. Clearly it's not something _you_ think has any value. Not really."

Cinder ignored Qrow, scrubbing hard at a particular stain at the base of the wall.

A sigh. Footsteps - another sigh, then, heavier, and at her level now. "Listen, I'm serious here: fighting isn't all there is. Not to anyone, and not to you. You're still worth a hell of a lot on your own, without being able to do that anymore. You can do other things, you can be other things; a good spouse, a good mom - not that you aren't already, but you could try for that mom of the year award if you really wanted to - and whatever else out there you want to try. Learn some new skills, get a new hobby. Hey, take up dancing; that's similar enough to fighting, isn't it?"

"It is - Flora's told me that before, too," Cinder agreed, nodding.

"Well there you go. Learn to dance. Try making a career out of it, if you want. Join some stage crew, get into theater."

"That would be...no. I couldn't."

"Well, then how about that Semblance of yours? You could run a circus. Get all kinds of animals doing all kinds of tricks for you..."

"No!"

"Well you've gotta do _something_. You _can do_ something. Maybe not _anything_ anymore, but was that ever true for any of us? You've still got talents, skills, things you can apply to whole other parts of life - not just combat, and killing. Whole _new_ parts of life. Just because you lost this one part of it, doesn't mean all the rest has to come crashing down with it. You hear me?"

"I wish I wasn't."

Laughter. "And then there's that acid tongue of yours. Could come in handy somewhere - you ever tried customer services? There's plenty of assistive tech out there that can help you."

Cinder hated her mouth for betraying her just then, even if it was only for an instant.

"There we go - got one out of you. See? The world hasn't quite gone to hell yet."

"Maybe, but it's close to."

"Nah, we've got this."

"Since when are you the optimist?"

"Since we've been down one; where's all that burning determination of yours? Hey, I've got an idea. Speaking of animals...how would you like a nice little visit from the greatest bird this side of Mistral? Haven't seen him in a while, have we?"

"W-wha-?"

A flutter of wings and a squawk, and sharp talons were digging into Cinder's left shoulder. Or, what remained of it, anyways.

Cinder sat there on the floor for a minute. Then, she slowly reached up, and began to stroke at bird's flank with careful fingers.

After some time of silent working, she spoke to the bird - much the way she had to all kinds of animals as a child.

"This is how my story started," she said softly. "Just this. Day in and day out. I came from nothing, I was nothing. And then, I became one of the most powerful people on the face of this entire _planet_. I was powerful, I was skilled, I was even moderately wealthy, and I even married a lovely princess. I had it all! Everything I'd ever wanted, and even a lot of things I never knew I did. Kids, real friends in my life who'd s-stand by me and b-behind me, no matter what happened. But now here I am again...and I'm just _nothing again_. Except, now, I'm _even worse off_ than when I was a child - I had two arms and both eyes, back when I was a girl..."

"I k-know, you'll probably say I still have a lot of those things - I still have friends, I still have kids, I still have my princess - but...I suppose I was never one for the immaterial. Bonds, relationships, love and happiness. I've never been the kind of girl who really cares about having that. People, and socializing, and relating to them...it was never important to me. Because to me, people _sucked_ ; people hit you, people put a knife in your face, people made you work until your hands bled, people locked you up in a cold, empty room at night because you _failed_! You always failed, you always just- you were never good enough for _people_. So people...were never going to be good enough for _me_. Why care, why bother? Why see any of them as anything but- hated- stupid- idiotic..."

Cinder clenched her fist and drove it into the wall.

A ruffling of feathers and a loud squawk.

"None of that _mattered to me_! I've always just wanted...the material. Magic, weapons - lien in my hands. A nice, sexy dress on my figure. A product of, when you get right down to it, what I only ever really wanted: power, and control in my life. Over all those _people_ who...once had it over me. Over _my life_. I'm not saying that power is _the only thing_ that matters to me - it doesn't, not anymore - but that also doesn't mean that it means _nothing_ to me now. It still has its worth, it still...I could still be using it to protect my family, my friends! But now I- I've lost it again. All of it."

"I just have to sit around, putting my life into all of your hands, and into my mother's hands. Knowing that she could show up at any moment and screw it up, and I couldn't do a thing to stop it! I have nothing, I am nothing, and it's all of you _people_ who have it over me again! All of you people who get to look at me now and see some stupid, useless, pathetic- worthless girl who you can toy with, jerk around however you please! Stomp on her hand, kick her in the head - what's she going to do about it?! I'm not a stranger to that treatment. And I hate that so much, and I don't know what to do with myself now except...go back to what I know I can still do. What I did before, the last time I had no power. No magic, no weapons, no lien - none of it. Nothing. Because...because _I'm_ nothing again!"

In ensuing silence, Cinder heard the sharp gasp of Emerald's voice, and quick footsteps retreating from the room.

* * *

"I had no idea she was so dedicated...."

"Look at her fingers!"

"What is she doing...?"

"Would you all please just let her be!"

Cinder shuffled her way into the living room on her knees, exploring around the small end table beside the bookcase with her hand.

"Ms. Rynon?"

Cinder straightened instantly, turning to face the voice. "Yes?"

"Ah..." Discomfort in Ozpin's voice. "Would you care to actually _sit in_ on this planning session with the rest of us?"

"Yes..." Cinder sat back on her heels and rested her hand in her lap. "I'm listening."

"Very...well. Ah, yes, as I was saying: I believe our best bet now is to remain where we are and fortify our position - given that the enemy needs to retrieve you to force you to finish what was started in their stronghold. If we remain where we are, all of us together, we can focus our efforts on guarding you, and keeping you out of their hands again. As well, there is an advantage in forcing an enemy to have to come to _you_ \- to make them fight you on your own turf, as the youth of today say, I believe. As well, the ability to lure _them_ to _us_ will give us another chance at using the Sword, once they come close enough. And lastly, there is the fact that this safe house is situated on city's edge; at first sign of enemy contact, we could vacate it in favor of retreating into the woods, where battle should not result in much civilian harm - or property damages." A pause from Ozpin. "Your thoughts, Cinder?"

"I like it."

"I...see. Very good, then. Thank you for your opinion - it is valued."

Cinder returned to her work, tuning out the world.

She was valued still? Why?

What could she even contribute now?

Even after the meeting ended, Cinder sensed certain people hanging back.

Hanging around _her_.

One of those people made themselves known to Cinder in her usual way: annoyingly cheerful and attention-seeking.

"Cinder! You're doing _awesome_ work on this place, you know that?"

"I know."

Silence.

Emerald tried again. Because of course she would. "I know it might seem really awful, but I'm certain you'll be back in the game soon. You just need some cybernetics and some time to get used to them."

Cinder didn't respond.

"Listen, I know you're upset over losing your Maiden powers! And, don't get me wrong, I'm so glad you gave them to _me_ , but...I think I can fix that for you. You gave me your powers, you made me the first double Maiden - but I can give them back to you. I'll use the Sword on our enemies, and in the process I can-"

"No!" Cinder snapped.

"N-no? Wh-what do you mean no? Cinder, I could-"

"I said _no_!"

"But, I-"

"Don't you ever say a thing like that again! Get that _stupid idea_ out of your head: now!"

"But, Cinder, I could give _you_ the powers of two Maidens! _And_ do one of the greatest things I can even think of to do for you: save your whole family for you! Why wouldn't you want me to do that?"

"Because I won't lose you too!" Cinder snarled. "Not like that! And then to have to carry around those powers, like some physical manifestation of all the _grief and guilt I'd have inside after that?! No!_ "

"But if I can-"

"Doesn't your own life have _any_ value to you at all?"

Emerald's voice descended; she was right there, right beside Cinder on the floor. "No! All that matters is you; you've given me everything I could have ever wanted and more! And I need to repay that!" So urgent, so intense, so...

"When you thought I was _dead_ -" Cinder began to counter.

"And still _now_!"

"No. I won't let you."

"Y-you can't stop me-"

Cinder drove her fist into Emerald's gut, seized her by the throat and yanked her in close. " _If I have to pin you down and knock you out, I'll damn well give it my best shot! You. Are not. Killing yourself for me. Do you understand me?_ "

"C-Cinder-"

" _Do you?!_ "

"Yes! Okay, I'm sorry!"

Cinder shoved her away with a growl. "Go do something useful that doesn't involve trying to commit suicide at first opportunity."

A little high noise, and then rapid footsteps fleeing the room.

A tiny little trilling noise right in her ear.

Cinder lifted a hand and brushed the bird's back with absent fingers. "I'm sorry you had to see me like that. I do _try_ not to be that way anymore with people..."

The bird left her.

* * *

"You're literally immortal, and it's _wasted on you!_ " Flora's yelling carried from living room to kitchen.

"Excuse me?"

 _Oh god no, not again!_ Cinder trembled on the kitchen floor, putting a lot firmer strokes into the motions of scrubbing away at it. _Please, Flora, please..._

"You heard me: it's the most wonderful blessing any of us could ever have! Time, life itself! You could be doing _so much_ in this world with it: traveling, seeing every last landmark, learning new languages, participating in different cultures _as they evolve_ , picking up different skills or trying out new hobbies, sampling all kinds of foods - hell, you could do some great humanitarian work, helping people learn details about history that we could never learn from empty structures and old scrolls! I'm sure you have amazing stories to tell!"

A pause, before Flora barreled on. "And for yourself most of all, what about family? You could have settled down in peace and had a string of a dozen different families by now! You could have seen your own grandchildren, great grandchildren, and more! The things everyone wishes they could live long enough to see, to be there for! But you...you just _aren't_. You _don't_. All you do is waste it all on evil overlord schemes, trying to _ruin_ the world, instead of taking the unique opportunity to participate in every last facet of it that _none of the rest of us will ever have the time to!_ You're the most short-sighted, self-centered woman I've ever met. You have the greatest gift in the universe, yourself alone, and you're _squandering it!_ "

"You think I'm-" Salem's hissing tones began.

"Now, now, dear, she _does_ have a fair few good points," Ozpin's voice carrying, faux casual as ever. "I think it would be unwise not to take some of it to heart. You could honestly do with a bit of-"

"Keep your hands off of me!" Salem's voice snapped. Stomping footsteps, and then the sound of a door slamming.

"We're just letting her leave like that?" Flora's voice filled the silence after.

"It's best to let her cool off out there," Ozpin sighed. "She always did have quite the temper. I believe she will return to us when she's ready."

"Or when she realizes she's on her own out there, ripe for the Order's taking," Flora snorted.

"Yes, that as well," Ozpin agreed. "Though, regardless, you really must cease this behavior with her; sooner or later you are going to push your luck with her. Though my presence may deter her from harming you, there is a limit - and I won't always be around to keep her in check. After this crisis is dealt with, I fear she is likely to seek retribution upon you."

"She's only pissed off because she knows I'm right. Everything that she is is wasted on her."

"I fully and wholeheartedly agree with you; she could have been doing so much else with herself, all these millennia past. Productive, decent, wonderful things. But I'm afraid that confronting her with such will do little good."

"Someone has to. I'll take advantage of you to do that as long as you're here - sorry, not like you're some kind of tool."

"I'm happy to aid you in such a pursuit. Perhaps we might finally even reach her. I do believe, these past few days, I have seen...I believe it's more possible now than it ever was before."

"There you go, then. Just have my back with her, and maybe we won't have to deal with her later at all."

"Maybe."

* * *

"Soooo...I brought the kid to you, which sent the mom right to you - and it's not my fault she escaped you after that. Which means I did exactly what I was asked to, in a roundabout kind of way. Which means..." Aisha held out a hand, fluttering her fingers.

She tensed as the shadows on the walls began to vibrate, as a stadium's worth of voices began chattering all around her.

Then, it all stopped.

"You did." Tyra Aryle kicked the briefcase at Aisha, sliding it across the floor. "A billion lien, as promised. Enjoy yourself on some vacation island for the next few months - or _buy_ the island - I don't really care. Just be smart about it: don't let anyone know who you got it from, and don't let anyone know you _have it_ if you don't want people doing their best to take it from you."

"Be smart about it - yeah. Alright! Thanks. God, I could kiss you right now for this!"

"If you kiss me, I'll make sure you don't leave this room in any fit state to make use of that money."

"And that's a no on the kiss; got it, that's cool with me. Hard no. Respectable no." Aisha beamed. "Well, later! Call me up if you have another job for me - I won't say no to more!"

"Have you never heard of quitting while you're ahead?"

"I'm quitting now," Aisha replied. "A nice, looong break between this gig and any future ones, that's for sure."

"Then we're done here."

Before Aisha could say another word, Tyra became shadow herself, and disappeared from the room.

Aisha left the room with briefcase at her side, and the biggest of grins on her face.

Where was she going to go first? What was she going to _do_ first?

The possibilities for her in life were now endless, as wide open as the ocean!

As long as she focused on those fantasies, she wouldn't have to stop and wonder just what might have happened to that kid after she had delivered her to those people.

Besides, the kid had gotten taken away from that place later, hadn't she? Same with that Cinder woman, the mom herself.

So, it really had all worked out fine for everyone, in the end.

No harm done.

* * *

"Hey," Cinder spoke clearly. She'd known who it was even before the door had opened. She guessed it was time for this.

"Hi." High and uncertain. Shuffling little feet. "Can I-"

"Yes. Come here and sit down."

Bae hurried over to Cinder, seating herself on the bed beside her.

A small hand that took hers.

Cinder gave it a squeeze, a stroke of a thumb. "Look, I know things are- scary- lately, but it will all be over soon. I'm going to make sure of it. And after it is, and we can all go home again...why don't I upgrade you to a hoverboard?"

"I don't _want_ a hoverboard, I just want-"

"What?"

"You."

"O-Okay. Then...how about we...talk. Let's just keep...talking. Here." Cinder gave Bae's head a stroke, then pulled her into her lap. "Why don't we just- sit here like this a while, and talk about whatever you want."

"Ok." Palpable relief in the girl's voice. A small frame relaxing into Cinder's greater.

She felt her own relief - she must have made the right call, for once.

"Bae, I-"

The world rocked, and the the ceiling came crashing down on them.

Cinder activated her Aura and threw herself to the floor with Bae, shielding her with her own body; a large piece of debris came down on her, flaring her Aura as it took the hit.

Long, steely claws and a great hand was grasping Cinder's legs, pulling her back, off of Bae...

_No, dammit!_

Cinder threw herself over onto her backside and thrust her palms out, blasting out with her Aura.

Her mother's recognizable, monstrous voice cried out with pain and surprise alike.

The hand holding her didn't let go - it lifted her up and swung her aside, slamming her against the wall, then back the other way for a second blow.

Cinder's Aura wasn't doing well at all.

Probably what her mother was hoping for.

Cinder threw out another wave of energy, causing her mother to growl at her and rip her up clean out of the house.

Open air, chilly night's winds.

"Let her go!"

Emerald...

Billowing heat of scorched air, blowing right past Cinder, and a scream from mother.

Those claws finally let her go, right into the dirt.

Cinder was on her feet and racing in the clear opposite direction of her mother.

The sound of shattering glass on her right - and someone was tackling Cinder.

A gust of wind swirling around her, and the body pressing to Cinder was gone.

Cinder hard hardly risen again when a strong ribbon was wrapping around her body, pinning her arm to her side! There was a hard _tug_ , and she careened over again.

"Blake - I'mreallysorrypleasedon'ttakeitpersonally!" The high voice of Ruby rose rattled off in a single breath - and then the rapid fire of her powerful sniper rifle cut the air.

The ribbon went slack, unraveled and pulled away from Cinder.

"Cinder, I've got you!" Suddenly there was Flora, her grip on Cinder's arm very firm - pulling her away from the sounds of combat. "We need to keep you away from them. Here - Nora, can you carry her for me somewhere _that way?_ "

"Ready whenever _she is_ ," Nora Valkyrie's serious tones rang.

"I am _not ready_ , because _I am_ _not_ going to be some human hot potato!" Cinder protested fiercely.

"You don't have a choice; I'm sorry!" Flora responded swiftly. And then slender arms were picking her up and shoving her into _other arms_. Stronger arms. "Go!"

_Goddammit!_

If not for her familiarity with voices and weapons discharging, Cinder wouldn't have had even half as much of a clue as to what was going on around her as she did.

And it still wasn't much!

It seemed like Raven, Emerald, and Team RWBY were engaging with Tyra, Blake, Neo and Miltia, while Team JNPR plus Mercury were _escorting_ Cinder away from all of that business. Hazel, Sinna and Flora seemed to be safeguarding Bae and Maggy - which was _good_.

A change of air, a brush of her feet against bush and branch - a little stumble by the one carrying her - told Cinder they were now entering the woods proper.

Some little thuds and more racing boots to join theirs, after a time. Deep in the thick of it, where combat was only a distant thought.

"While the others are attempting to land the winning blow, we need to focus on keeping Cinder out of their hands!" The voice of Ozpin was panting. "If I'm not mistaken, there is an old, abandoned mansion not far from here - it was once attached to a small nearby village called Eydriss, and once belonged to a rather wealthy family, the Nuveris - we can hole up there and regather ourselves. Situate ourselves entirely around Cinder's protection."

" _No, no, no, no..._ " Cinder squirmed and lashed out with an arm blindly for the face of the one holding her.

"H-hey-!" Nora's voice, reproachful and confused. "Watch what you're- _oh, come on!_ "

Cinder landed a blow, and Nora dropped her to the ground.

"Do you seriously not know how to do anything except make our lives difficult?" Jaune's voice, all scathing sarcasm.

Cinder pushed herself up and stumbled away, hand feeling for trees and brush - but she still smacked into one with her whole flank. Twice.

"Someone grab her - we cannot afford to-" Ozpin was saying.

A strong hand grabbing at Cinder's wrist. "Hey - cut it out, would you?" Mercury, irritated. "If you screw this all up for me, if I can't get Miltia back because you-"

A flutter of wings, crunching boots.

Cinder shoved out at Mercury and whirled away.

"Hey, what're you doing? Come on." Qrow, seizing her by the arm and yanking her back! She fell again immediately, breaking free out of sheer dumb luck. Qrow was after her again, taking a firmer hold this time. He started pulling her back the way they'd _been_ going. "Shit, what's the matter with you? Did you get injured somewhere, or what? What's with all this...?"

" _P-please, please I can't go back, please I w-won't, I'll do a-anything, I'll be good, I'll be quiet, please just don't send me back, don't let her take me b-back-_ "

"What the _hell is wrong with you_? Okay...look, we don't have time for whatever this is. Sorry." Qrow swept her off her feet and threw her over a shoulder.

" _Nooooo! No please don't, you c-can't, you can't I'm s-sorry, I'm sorry, please just let me go, please just p-put me down, please I can't, please!_ "

"What the hell is she screaming about?! She's completely giving away our movements!" Raven's harsh voice, totally perplexed as much as furious. Sudden and unexpected.

"Did you manage to strike the blow?" Ozpin asked.

The soft voice of Salem's, to make Cinder quiver all by itself. "Unfortunately not - our enemy called in a swift and great number of reinforcements; we already suspected they had to have a dozen or more Ascendants still on Remnant, and now they've shown themselves. And that's in addition to our stolen allies." A sigh, frustrated. "And they aren't stupid; they discerned that we were very _focused_ on using that Relic on them. I believe one even recognized it as such. And you know how they are - if one knows, they all know. They began using evasive tactics, refusing to let us land any kind of blow on them."

"Well, now this is all going to be a great deal more difficult," Ozpin sighed.

Crashing boots through bush. "Cinder! What's going on? Did she get-" Flora started quickly.

Two little voices chattering, and then the voice of Sinna whispering, admonishing them to be a bit quieter right now...

"I have no idea," Qrow said. "She just started up with this a minute ago, and she hasn't _stopped_."

"Cinder, are you okay? What's happening? Is it Imryll? Did you get hurt? I need you to tell me, please!"

Cinder continued to struggle the whole way, fiercer and harder the closer they drew to it.

She exploded with her Aura, she got free several times this way - earning a harsh chiding from Raven about "Pointlessly lowering your own defenses!" - but everyone always managed to get her back.

Endless minutes passed like this, this game of back and forth, but in the end, as they emerged from trees into a great clearing, Cinder had nothing.

No more aura, no strength to try again.

She clung to Flora's neck and went entirely slack in her arms.

"Where are we?" Flora's voice, breathless. "This place looks abandoned. I had no idea there was even a-"

"Try using your eyes," Raven said, exasperated. "Read the sign: Nuveri Manor."

A swift intake of air. "We are _not_ bringing her into that place!" Flora exclaimed, stopping dead in the grass. "Gods, Cinder, I am _so sorry_ , I didn't think- I didn't realize we were so close to where you grew up! I didn't- I'm sorry!"

"What? She grew up in a mansion? _Here?_ " Jaune's voice. Perplexed. "Why would someone like _that_ even _choose_ to do all the things she-"

"She's not going inside!" Flora's voice cut over anyone else's.

"She _must_ ," Ozpin said firmly. "I know the power of memories, believe me, but we have no choice but to take refuge here for now!"

" _No!_ " Flora hissed. "I'm not doing that to her, I'm not-"

"Just tell her to keep her eyes closed, and she'll be fine," Raven said coolly.

"Mom grew up _here_?" Bae's voice, curious and amazed...

"Not now!" Flora's voice, snapping in a way she rarely ever had to their girls. "Ozpin, please-"

A sigh from Ozpin. "Either she goes in, or she stays out here to get captured again. Memories and ghosts cannot harm her; the Order can! It offers great tactical positioning for us at present - your children can be better safeguarded here. Do you want them to be taken as well?"

"I'm sorry..." Flora was moving again, very quickly.

_Please, just let me go, just let me down, please don't bring me back..._

Great double doors creaking open.

Entry hall echoing with many boots on hard marble...

"It's okay, it's alright, Cinder, shhh, just breathe, just try to-"

Cinder burst with recharged Aura and threw herself to the floor, scrambling off to her left with a whimper. Hand slammed against wall - slid two feet to the side to adjust - and the side door was ripped open to slam against the wall. She hurled herself through it and raced down the hallway.

Voices echoing behind her, furious with her - they always were.

"Where the fuck is she going?!"

"Someone go get her!"

"I'll go after her!" Flora proclaimed.

Light footfalls were in pursuit of her; Cinder's hand trailed the wall on her right, passing doors, her mind racing. She passed a sixth door, and she turned right down a new hallway that was right where it was meant to be - where it always was in memories...

_Left door, six doors, right turn, straight on - four doors - left turn...find the stairs!_

Navigating this place in the darkness was something she was _very_ used to!

* * *

The _smells_.

The layers of dust under her feet.

The grime on the walls she'd touched.

Cinder closed the door to her dad's room as quietly as she could - she still jumped at it.

She slid down to the floor, back to the door.

She let a breath go free, wrapping her arm around herself.

The footsteps wandering in the distance, the voice calling out for her...

Cinder crawled across musky carpet.

She pushed a chair out of her way. Crawled under a table.

Her hand struck something, sent it smacking into the base of the wall.

She reached out, feeling it: a scroll?

Old, dusty, cracked screen...

Cinder held it to her chest with trembling hand, pulling her legs in under the table with her.

She remembered her dad recording her birthdays, a few times. She most recalled her last one with him, a few months before he'd died - how couldn't that one stick with her? That was when it had all changed, when it had all gone to hell for her.

Clutching this scroll, she dared to wonder. Dared to _hope_...

She pressed the button on side of the scroll - one she'd never before used. That function.

A chime. An artificial voice. "Scroll activated. State desired action." So _loud_ in the quiet - please be _quiet!_

"F-find v-video files. Recordings." Cinder said, as clearly as she could. Voice hardly above a whisper.

"Searching scroll data..."

Cinder held her breath.

"Eighty-two video files located: 'Annabelle's Third Competition Winning-'"

"Find 'Cinder.'" She had zero desire to hear the voices of her hated stepsisters again (and it had _nothing_ to do with guilt or remorse over killing them when they were mere teenagers - a grisly fate they hadn't deserved, just for taking cues from their mother). Those voices...no, she couldn't hear them again. She wouldn't. There was only one voice she wanted to hear again.

"Search results narrowed - twelve files located; 'Cinder's Sixth Birthday', 'Cinder Learning to-'"

"Play 'Cinder's Sixth birthday!'"

"Beginning playback."

A beep - _still too loud! Please, you'll-_

And then-

 _-hi daddy! You're recording me_ again _?"_

_"It's your sixth, honey; I'm only going to get to record it once."_

_"But I mean - you recorded my_ last _birthday! Do you_ really _have to record_ this one _too?" A small voice gave a sigh far too big for her._ Cinder could picture the way her head shook with that stupid double bun hairstyle of hers, the way her shoulders squared...the way her eyes just... _"Are you going to record my_ next _birthday too?"_

 _"Cinder, honey, I'll be recording your_ hundredth _birthday. And every single one till then!"_

_"Ugh! Fine, daddy - but only 'cause it's you!"_

And there was the laughter Cinder hardly ever recalled in memory, real and present again after so long....

_"All right, little spitfire, what would you like to do today? Lady Nuveri's given me enough to take you down to the village for a nice treat - whatever you like."_

_"Really?! Can I go to Carma's and get a big plate of those chips? The ones that made my tongue go all-"_ An obnoxious noise that current Cinder couldn't even hope to describe. _"-like_ that? _"_

_"If that's what you want, of course, honey. And while we're there, you can tell me all about what happened at school today."_

_"Daddy, I already told you: nothing happened!"_

_"That's not what your teacher said. You know what she said?"_

_"Nothing_ true. _" A high voice huffed._

_"I don't know, honey - it sounded exactly like the sort of thing you'd do."_

_"Whatever it was I didn't do it!"_

_"So you didn't call a boy a 'half-wit with marshmallows for brains' for making fun of Onyx's voice problems - along with plenty of other colorful things I had no idea you even knew how to say?"_

_"Oh, that. Yeah, I did that..."_

Another laugh, sending stabbing pains through Cinder's heart. _"You did. And between you and me, I'm proud of you for it. I know Lady Nuveri isn't happy with you for it...and neither are most of the teachers...but I want you to know that I am. I'm so proud, and happy to know that I have such an amazing, strong, fierce girl to raise. I love seeing you at six, honey, and I can't wait to see you at sixteen. At twenty-six. At forty-six. At sixty, even!"_

 _"I'm never going to be_ that old, _daddy!"_

_"Really? Well, if you say so..."_

_"I do say so!"_

_"Why don't you get dressed up in that nice little outfit Lady Nuveri got you, and we'll walk to the village together."_

_"I don't want to wear it."_

_"Why?"_

_"Because it was from her."_

_"Now Cinder, it was a very expensive, wonderful gift for her to give you. The least you can do is wear it once."_

_"She didn't buy it 'cause she likes me; she bought it 'cause she likes_ you."

_"I'm sure that's not true."_

_"I'm not wearing that!"_

_"All right. Then put on something you_ do _like."_

_"I was gonna already," was the most flippant of replies. So rude, so-_

_"Oh, sweetheart..." Just amusement, nothing more._

A long-dreaded beeping sound.

The room was silent again.

_You wouldn't have liked me at sixteen, daddy..._

Cinder leaned back, dropping the scroll to her lap.

She suddenly felt very tired.

Exhausted.

Cinder drifted off, without a care for the sounds of combat that had started up, echoing through the mansion.

* * *

Flora squared her shoulders and brought her fists up as the monster broke through the tall windows lining the hallway, bursting in with the cold winds.

She was too big to even fit, hunkered over with spikes tearing up the ceiling and the walls, claws dragging on the floor.

"Where's my daughter?"

"I don't know," Flora admitted, taking a step back.

"Why don't we go find her."

"That's not happening," Flora said loudly.

"I wouldn't be too sure."

"You don't have anything on us now - nothing to threaten us with, nothing to coerce us with. You can't make us do a thing."

"Well, there's _y_ _ou,_ " Tyra's monstrous voice replied calmly. "Right in front of me. I think you'll do just as nicely as the girls - don't you?"

"Look, we want to help you, we really do - but not like this. You, all of you, could have just _asked_." Flora sighed. "But I guess that one isn't your fault. Imryll: if you're listening to me, I want you to know this too! If you could agree to stop all of this, _we_ could agree to help you ourselves. Cinder would! She wants to! She does. You don't need to do all of this arm-twisting; that just makes her want to help you _less_. You want to be normal again? We'd like it if you could be normal again, too - it would save us all this big headache!"

Tyra hesitated; her expression flickered. Then she started forward. "We can't trust that - that you people aren't just stalling for time, time to put some sort of plan into action to kill the rest of us. You've already killed two of us that way. And plenty of others who were there to _help us_."

"No, that's- I'm telling you the truth! Please, if you could just try and-"

"Enough _stalling_ , enough _baiting_ , enough _lying!_ " Enraged, Tyra swung for Flora. " _We're finishing this tonight!_ "

* * *

Imryll Mordeya opened newly formed eyes, looking out at the world itself anew.

She blinked in the dark, shifting new limbs around - just three - as all the memories and voices came flooding into her head. From her other self, from all the others still trapped on the other side!

Just before she was going to panic, she felt the missing arm reform; she moved the fingers and bent the elbow - it all worked fine.

But it wouldn't last; only as long as Imryll was awake. Which itself wasn't going to be too long a time.

Imryll sifted through recent memories gained.

Things involving Tyra, and Cinder, and...it was her - the little kid. Her name was Maggy, wasn't it?

The one Tyra had hurt, because Imryll - the _other_ Imryll - had gotten so angry, so upset, and just said to...she hadn't meant to!

She'd said she didn't _care_ what they did to make Cinder help them all - but that wasn't true! But she'd said it, totally thoughtless, just _mad_ , and she'd forgotten all about the effects her words always had on them. Tyra had done it, she'd done it without thinking herself, because they _always did_! Always what Imryll wanted, always what she said. Because that was how they were, how she was...

 _This_ Imryll felt like crying now.

But she didn't have time to cry! She had to go, she had to do this - while she could! She was here, she was awake and up, but she wouldn't stay that way for too long - Cinder hadn't given her as much as she should have; she'd fallen short by a couple...it wasn't enough energy. Not as much as anyone would've liked. She'd only have a couple of minutes until she had to sleep again!

She breathed, reaching into her soul - for the connection to all those others.

Her Ascendants, all her friends. All those people who were alive and stuck in Kintu because of _her_.

_I'm awake; what should I do now?_

All the voices came to her, as eager as ever to help her - advise her. Comfort her, over the thoughts and feelings inside her now that they all felt as acutely as Imryll herself.

The first voice was the strongest: the other her. The one still stuck in Kintu.

_Tyra feels bad that she had to do all that; it wasn't fun for her. She made herself do it - like she does everything - for you. But she doesn't blame you!_

_We just want you to be happy, dear._

_We're only doing what you want._

_We're doing our best for you!_

_We know it hurts - it hurts all of us, too. But it's just the way we are; we can't help it. You can't help it._

_I know..._ Imryll responded to them all. That was why she wanted to make this all stop finally - so all these people wouldn't be tied to her anymore, forced to obey her like this. Slaved to her. And...she herself wouldn't have to ever worry about a stray word or a burst of anger causing people to go off and do the worst things. But _I didn't mean to get so mad; I didn't mean what I said! I didn't mean to make Tyra-_

A feeling of sadness rose in Imryll - a new sadness. A different sadness. And then Tyra's voice in her head, reaching her quietly. _I didn't want to do it, either; but I did it - for you. I'd do it again for you if I had to. I willl - just give the word._

 _I_ _know_ , Imryll repeated, closing her new hands into fists. That was the problem. _But I don't want you to do something like that again - not even to get Cinder to cooperate! It wasn't supposed to...we weren't supposed to..._

 _I'll_ always _be willing to do anything for you, anything you want._ Tyra went on, passionate and reverent. _What are friends for?_

 _You're not listening to me!_ Imryll yelled. _Listen to me! You're never to do something like that again! That wasn't helping her, it wasn't helping anybody - it was wrong! That was just hurting her to hurt her!_

And then the other her was joining in. _You, Blake, Neo, Miltia - you're not supposed to just go hurting them! Listen to her, and listen to **me!**_

 _I..._ A steady flow of confusion from Tyra. A little flicker of doubt, a half formed thought of- and then it was gone. Squashed. _If that's what you want - then I won't. Of course not! I'm your friend, Imryll, I just want to do what makes you happy. That's what friends do. But I'm not sure how else we're going to get to Cinder..._

 _Just find her!_ Imryll retorted. _Just don't hurt people to do that!_ _I don't care how long it takes! Listen to me: I don't have a long time here, I know that - and when I have to go away again, she'll come back, and she'll probably just run away. Again! So you need to be ready to find her again, but...just don't hurt her for it. Don't hurt any of them for it!_

The other Imryll, speaking now too. And _do_ _n't let them use that sword relic on any of you! Thank god Emiya recognized it before they did!_

_Of course; we're friends. I'll always listen to you._

_Right..._ _friends..._ Imryll sighed.

 _And family_ , came the very special voice to chime. _I'll do anything to make sure my daughter is happy. And I'm proud of you for wanting to help all of us, too, first._

 _Thank you,_ _mother._ Imryll said wearily. _Just tell me how to break the wall now; I'm ready to go do it._

_That isn't exactly the right metaphor - but, yes, all right. First, we'll need you to get far away from all of those Remnant types._

_Okay. And then what?_

_You make the magic happen. Just follow our instructions to the letter, and it will be quick and easy._

_Okay._ Imryll let out a second sigh, forcing her new body to move. It was all going to be over soon; everything would be okay soon. For everybody.

_Mother, after we do this...could I have a kid of my own finally?_

_If you want to, of course you can - though, it will take a while yet, a bit of aging still._

_I'm okay with that,_ Imryll responded. She had waited three hundred years to find a way to get free of all this - she could handle another two decades. Maybe one and a half. Standing now, she looked herself over more properly. This was the kind of body she wanted - the kind she should've had by now. Or, something like this, anyways. She felt another surge of frustration; this body and her mind, they were so at odds already, it was all just so...she hated it, she hated herself, she wanted it to _fit!_ Her own mind had never felt like all the others she could reach - like her mother's, or Tyra's, or...

Imryll sighed as the body of the mother again brought thoughts of the child. _I'm really sorry for all of_ _this_ , she pleaded silently with that girl - Maggy - in her own head alone. _I didn't mean for you to get hurt like that. I never meant for anyone to get hurt. I just lost my...it wasn't Tyra's fault. She couldn't help herself._ She didn't want to hurt people - she wanted to help them - but, no, she didn't even want _that_ anymore. She just wanted to be done with all of it! That was the Relic talking, that was...wrong. She knew it now - even if it still felt so _right_ in her head. That drive, that purpose, those feelings...they were all wrong!

She pulled the shadows around herself, and disappeared from the room.

She didn't have much time to do this at all.

* * *

Standing in the middle of the forest, Imryll worked diligently.

Imryll traced her hands through the air, forming the sparkling trails, the floating sigils, and the pattern around it all.

_No, Imryll, it's not circle, line, line, "X"; it's line, line, circle, then the X._

_It really matters?_ she replied, exasperated.

Mother's laughter, a burst of amusement that felt like Imryll's own. _Yes, honey. It matters very much. Magic is about symbols, symbolism, and doing things just right - or it can all blow up in your face._

 _Ok._ Imryll corrected her mistake, redoing the latest series of motions. _How does it look now?_

 _It looks like it will work. But if you've made even one mistake somewhere - on your side, or on our side - it could become unstable and collapse on itself. And if that happens, we'll have to do_ everything _over again._

On her side, on their side; it was weird to think that there was another _her_ still back in Kintu, doing the same thing she was doing right now. Almost like a twin, a sister. Except with the same memories and thoughts as her. Except, the other her had been here _first_ ; Imryll...herself...she was the younger one, by far. Centuries! Because the other- the first one of her- had created her, put her here, for this plan of theirs. It was all so... Imryll didn't really want to think about it too much.

_Does it look all right? All of it?_

_We think so, yes. You've done a wonderful job. Now - push it all back five feet, and change them from red to green. Mark the "corners" of the circle with diagonal lines, left to right._

Imryll bit her lip and concentrated as she obeyed her mother's instructions; a miming motion of her hands shoving out, causing the symbols to slide back in the air. A tap of a finger in the center shifted the colors to sparkling emerald. And then the markings, very carefully drawn with a finger.

The swirling red portal appeared, and the woman came flying out of it with flaming scarlet eyes.

And then a whole large group of others came spilling out after her.

_Mother, they're here - those Remnant people!_

_We know, we know - just keep going, just finish it. Tyra and everyone else will all be there to protect you!_

As shadows formed and half a dozen figures emerged around her, Imryll focused her best; she had to do this, for everyone! She had to! They deserved to be free as much as her! Even if all of them always insisted she was the only one that mattered - that only making _her happy_ was what mattered. She wouldn't just abandon them! If she was going to be free, then so were they!

Another circle, a sideways figure eight in the middle of it - don't touch the edges! Make a horizonal line straight through...layer the whole thing overtop the first circle of sigils and symbols, spaced apart by a single foot...

The energy crackled, connecting the space between like lightning bolts.

Imryll swirled her hand around all of it and pushed her fist into the center; magic burst from it all, almost toppling her right over backwards!

The symbols all began to spin and swirl, the lightning bolts were getting bigger and more hectic, casting off into the air - one almost hit one of those Remnant people!

Now all Imryll had to do was the last touch: just turn her fist ninety degrees to the _left_...drag it over to the _right_ , and then pull it back out as careful as she could, or she'd tear it apart!

She twisted her hand, slowly began to move it to the right-

And then something fast and small slammed into the side of her head! She fell to the side, as pain exploded in her head, yanking her fist out of the vortex of magic energy, landing with a cry on her side.

Someone had _shot her_!

_Imryll, you can still finish it - quickly!_

_How do I finish it?_

_Just repeat the last motion - but make sure you-_

Imryll pulled her magic up out of her soul and flushed it through the body; that bursting pain in her head faded to a dull throbbing. She stood up, and shoved her fist into the vortex again. She committed to the motion again with a shaking fist.

The vortex changed from green to white, and then it started to sputter and fade before coming back again.

_It's not going to last long. You didn't correct for the-_

_Can I make it stay up longer?_

_Not at this stage of things. But you did your best, you did well enough. It should be enough for at least-_

Suddenly Imryll was overtaken by a bout of severe drowsiness, and she collapsed in the dirt.


	10. The Oldest Form Of Hell Part 2

Flora watched Cinder - or, no, possessed Cinder - collapse in front of the unstable portal.

She watched as the child emerged from that portal.

She was so small, so skinny and frail. The simplest of little gowns on her form. Tanned skin, long dark hair in lustrous curls, and eyes that glowed a familiar amber orange. Truly, hardly any older than Bae was!

And then, out from behind her came a half dozen others. Swiftly they came through, as the portal began casting off energy bolts and compressing and expanding - wobbling in the air. The last one out nearly didn't even make it; the sputtering white portal finally collapsed in on itself a split second after the man fully emerged.

Almost immediately, they all began to change. And there were not just humanoid monsters among them, but quadrupeds, and even winged beasts as well!

Flora counted fifteen of them in total now - sixteen, if you wanted to count Imryll herself.

Fifteen extremely dangerous enemies.

All of them were motionless, spread out behind Imryll; they wouldn't do a thing unless she wanted them to. Not yet...

"Imryll..." Flora spoke to the child. "You don't have to do any of this. You can stop now, we can help you, if you'll let us. I promise you-"

" _I promised_ I was going to set them all free," the girl said fiercely. "They're not all free yet - so I'm not done yet! And you're all in the way of that! With your- your magic and your weapons! And those looks on your faces!"

"No one has any kind of look-" Flora began.

"Yes you do! We're no different from grimm to you - all you want to do is _slay us_ ," the girl accused. "Or lock us up again and throw away the key!"

"Imryll...perhaps that's true - but only because you've made it true," Ozpin spoke, gentle and calm. "No one would take issue with your return to Remnant...if you were to do so in a way that didn't endanger so many lives. You want to change back, you want to cast off what the Relic did to you - and that is exactly what we want for you as well. But not _just_ for you: for everyone else. If every Ascendant could become human once more...nothing would please me more than to finally allow them to live on Remnant again. Together, and in _peace_. But that isn't the case; you want only to save yourself, and are content to allow all these others to roam freely as they once did! Hurting, killing, and turning people into more of the same. And that...that is what I cannot allow for."

"Please, Imryll, don't you think everyone else should have the same chance as you to be normal again?" Flora asked. "Why leave them all out? Why not just let us...all it would take is a little prick of a finger." She gestured to the Sword of Destruction, held by Salem. "Just one of you, just once, and then _all of you_ can go back to how you were! Don't you want that for everyone?"

The girl's face scrunched up. Her head swayed side to side. Small hands came up to grasp it. "You're all just- a bunch of liars. All you do is lie, all you do is hurt us, you don't care! I bet once that thing touches any of us, we're all just going to drop dead!"

"You know that can't be true," Flora insisted. "We're planning on using it on our own friends. Do you really think we'd just kill them like that? No, we wouldn't. All we want is for them to go back to normal - just like you want to do for yourself! But it's not fair to just do it for you, and leave out everybody else. Don't you think?"

"I..."

"Imryll. You know it's not."

"I- I do...I guess? Yes?"

"Alright. Then you need to let us help you do that. Let us just...please." Flora took a careful step forward, her hands raised. "Just one little poke, and everyone can be happy and normal again. Can you let me do that for you? For all of you?"

"A- a lot of them don't _want_ to be normal again..."

"But staying the way they are...you know it's bad. You know it's wrong. To hurt people, to ignore them when they say no. And you know...that the Relic didn't work right on you to begin with. Did it? It went all haywire - didn't it?"

"I _know_ , I j-just- I want to- I..."

"I know, sweetie, I know; it has to be so confusing, and scary, being how you are for all this time. But you don't have to be anymore. Nobody has to be anymore. Just..." Flora dropped down in front of Imryll, and she slowly embraced her. "Just let us fix it for you. Let me make it all better for you. Please..."

"I don't...I c-can't- _it's been so long..._ "

"I know. But it doesn't have to go on for a second longer." Flora gave Salem a simple look, head turned briefly.

Salem approached in a glide, lifting the sword as she did.

"H-how bad is it going to hurt?" Imryll choked, gazing at the blade with fear.

"Not at all," Flora said firmly. "Just a little poke, a bit of stinging, and that's it. Done and easy!"

"I- I guess it really _isn't_ fair...for me to get to be normal again, but nobody else..."

"That's right."

"B-but, if you do...how is anybody else going to get out? The portal's gone and I won't be able to make another one!"

"We'll just pop open the seal and let them all out that way," Flora said softly. "The way it all started. I promise you, we aren't lying. We'll be happy to...if we can just fix what the Relic did to you first."

"A-and...the me that's inside Cinder?" Imryll questioned. "What happens to her?"

"Well, I think Cinder would still be happy to...have her," Flora answered carefully. "You can have a brand new sister in the world. Won't that be nice?"

"I...I guess. I never had a sister before. You- you can't have kids in there, not how we are."

"See? There's something else to fix here! Everyone will be able to have all the kids they want after this. I bet a lot of them have missed that."

"T-they have...I hear about it a lot."

"I can imagine, sweetie. Now, here we go...just take a breath for me."

Salem rested the blade on Imryll's arm, and she gave it a gentle, miniscule slice.

Black smoke rose from the wound; Imryll flinched and pressed to Flora on pure instinct.

Golden light burst from the wound, and then it began to spread through Imryll's body - glowing from within.

This same glow began to arise in the others around them.

Monsters reverted to human again. Many examined themselves with shocked expressions...with amazement...though some, with sadness or even anger. The very lights in their eyes had changed - the corruption of soul being washed away at last. Clarity of thought returned, awareness of self.

"Imryll? How do you feel now?" Flora said, holding the girl at arm's length.

"I..."

" _You - you..._ _you_ _did this to me, you did all of this to me! I'll kill you for it, you little brat!_ "

Flora turned, finding Tyra lunging across the distance in a mad explosion of Aura, headed right for Imryll with a blade held high in hand. She should have expected it, in all honesty: like mother, like daughter. Flora pushed Imryll out of the way and thrust her arms out for Tyra, intending to use an Aura blast - but something _else_ came out of her hands; a green energy wave burst from her palm, radiating out and washing over Tyra.

Tyra froze, as if the air itself had constricted around her, refusing to let her pass. The rippling green energy was surrounding her, washing over her like a second layer of Aura, almost. Tyra's eyes moved, but nothing else. Richly furious, agonized eyes of pretty brown.

Suddenly Salem moved for her, and then she had rammed the Sword of Destruction through her chest with a snarl.

There was no glow, no magic here - just blood washing down Tyra's front.

Salem tore it free and turned away. She tossed the blade to the ground. Her eyes fell on a stirring, newly awakened Cinder, her lips forming a strange smile. "Well, now you can't say I've never done anything good for you in your life, can you? I know how badly _you_ wanted to do that..."

Cinder was either very groggy still, or just lost for words.

Either way, Salem didn't seem to expect any: she enveloped herself in a purple aura, and flew off into the night sky without another on her part.

Flora's Semblance (what else could it be?), that green energy, it evaporated, releasing Tyra now freely.

Tyra staggered back, hand over the injury - fell back into the dirt.

"Y-you...you- you're going t-to pay for...all of this..." Tyra was gasping out, her eyes fixed to Imryll with twisted, overwhelming hatred.

"She's right!" Another former Ascendant yelled from the dark. A glint of something in hand - a weapon of some sort.

"You did this to us, to all of us!" another screamed.

Imryll shook her head, shrinking in on herself and stepping backwards. "I- I didn't mean to- I never meant any of it! It just-" Imryll threw herself at Flora, clinging to her side...like any terrified, desperate child would.

Flora stooped down and snatched up the Sword of Destruction out of the dirt, and held it before her, eyes sweeping around herself. "Stay back, everybody stay away from her!" she yelled.

Cinder was rising, racing over to Flora's side. She put herself at her side against the former Ascendants, her amber eyes narrowed viciously. "If you don't want to die after just getting your life back, _back off_!"

And then Ruby Rose was there, scythe in hand.

Then Blake, and Neo, and Miltia and Mercury together.

And then the rest - Teams JNPR and RWBY all, and Ozpin with his cane, and Emerald with set jaw, and a reluctant Raven even - forming a protective circle around the child that had started it all.

"Got my life back?!" A man yelled out to Cinder, furious and distraught. "She stole me from my family! She got me locked away for centuries! My husband is long dead by now, my children are long dead by now - everyone I knew and loved is _dead by now_! I don't _have_ any kind of life anymore! Because of _her_!"

"She's a devil spawn!" a woman shouted, brandishing a blade.

"She's just a child!" Flora refuted firmly. "I'm sure, however it happened, it wasn't on purpose! She's a child, it wasn't like she had some evil plan - it was an accident of the Relics!"

" _I'm sorry,_ " the girl herself pleaded, eyes moving every which way, frantic and chaotic. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry-"

A flaming dust arrow flew through the dark, and pierced Imryll's heart.

Flora took the girl in her arms before she hit the ground. She half reached for the arrow - then pulled her hand back. You weren't supposed to actually do that, were you?

"Raven, if you could open a path back to Sinna - the mansion?" Ozpin said firmly.

Raven obeyed, and the group retreated through the swirling red portal. Raven herself was the last to go, blasting out with Maiden winds to scatter the angry mob and prevent them from following before it could close.

They spilled out into a small, broken, dusty room; they were back in the mansion. Cinder's former home.

Sinna was standing with eye flames alight, facing the door - Bae and Maggy were huddled in a corner.

"I take it you succeeded? Our enemies just suddenly became human again, but they're still pissed off out there," Sinna said glibly, in explanation and greeting. "Hazel's dealing with them - trying to talk them down."

"Emerald - I need an illusion, please; I don't want this visible to Bae or Maggy!" Flora rattled out as she placed Imryll on the bed. "Someone heal her - Raven, Sinna-"

* * *

In the cramped, chaotic bedroom, Cinder watched the girl exhale, watched those small, frantic amber eyes just _stop_. So did the hand on her chest, having been desperately clutching for the arrow burning in her heart. Cinder's mind flashed to two other girls who had suffered a similar end - at her own hands. Her own arrows...

"She's gone already," she whispered to Flora, bowing her head. She could see again, but this wasn't what she'd have ever wanted her first, restored sight to be in the world. A dying...now dead...child. It wasn't even going to last long, this sight, was it? Like a curse. Only there long enough to show her horrors to make her stomach twist into knots.

Flora stared down at the girl, hands going to her mouth. She stepped away, blinking rapidly.

"I'm sorry..." Cinder offered uselessly.

Flora threw herself at her, arms going around her.

Cinder returned the embrace, wrapping her up and stroking her back.

A throaty rasping stole her attention; her eyes went to the floor, where her mother was laid out. No one was tending to her, no one was even near her if they could help it.

Cinder broke from Flora and went to her mother, dropped down beside her. Next thing she knew, she was seizing her mother's wrist up in a firm grasp.

Mother pulled free, swatted her hand away sharply. Then, she grasped it properly, pulling it down to her chest.

"I don't _understand._ " Cinder said heavily, using her fleetingly restored sight to focus entirely on her mother's face. "I don't understand _you_ ; you act standoffish as all hell when we first meet, then you act like someone who cares - someone who actually feels remorse for what she did, who wants _me_ to know it, to understand it - and then you're the woman who's lopping off my arm and driving a blade through my eye, looking at me like you hate me again! You make me kill, you torture my kid, and now here you are either wanting my comfort or trying to give _me_ some last comfort. But at the same time, you're being a real _bitch about it_. When you told me all that shit before you took my arm and eye, was that all real, or were you just manipulating me so you could strike at me? I don't know which is which - which is the real woman in front of me. I still don't know...what kind of person my mother really is."

Mother met her gaze, and a ghost of a smile came to shaking lips. "Well...maybe I'm all of it." A shrug filled with tremors.

"That's not good enough!" Cinder snarled.

"For you..."

"Yes, for me - who else?!"

The smile disappeared. Her head turned aside, away from Cinder. "What do you w-want...out of me? That I wish I'd never...done all the things I did? I already told you that; I meant it then. I can mean it again, if you want. Or- do you want me to say t-that I...I wish we could've had a nice, happy family life together? You, me, y-your father...and none of this Order b-bullshit mucking it all up? T-that I wish I could've been taking you to school every morning, or- or out for ice cream, or...all with a smile on my f-face? What do you want?"

"I'd _like_ something like that out of you..."

Laughter. Rich and true. "W-well...there you go, then. Why don't you go- buy yourself a cone and p-pretend...it was from me..."

Cinder growled, digging her nails into mother's hand. "You're probably going to hell, you know."

More laughter, soft, broken up by wracking coughs. "P-probably, yeah...and I deserve it - that what you want to hear? I know I do, I'm not an idiot..."

"Could have fooled me."

"Didn't I already?"

Cinder sat in silence a moment. She loosened her grip on her mother. She smiled, a sadness welling in her chest. And she laughed, too. "We could have had that together - that, just now, that was _fun_. If I could have grown up with a mother who was happy to do that with me, every morning I woke up, or...every night I didn't want to go to bed..."

Mother finally looked at her again. That smile was back, more fully, more real. Her eyes shimmered. "We could have."

"How do you feel about animals?"

"I'm not crazy about them...why?"

"My Semblance - it's talking to animals." Cinder said casually. "If I had grown up in a normal home with you...well, it still wouldn't have been normal; there would have been birds, and squirrels, and rabbits everywhere. Strays, too - dogs and cats - probably. Day in and day out, a new one all the time. Or...a few dozen new ones, really. And I would've named them all, and maybe you and- d-dad would have helped, too. Picked favorites?"

"Ugh, no: I would have set down a no animals in the house rule as soon as you manifested that crap," Mother replied, snorting.

"And I would have ignored that rule as often as I could get away with it," Cinder retorted.

"Sounds like the _real_ hell - glad I kicked your little ass to the curb as soon as I did." This wasn't said with any malice, no real bite - just pure humor. But could there have been something like self-loathing, or bitterness, or... _something_ in there too? Cinder honestly couldn't tell. Her mother was just so...

Cinder let Tyra's hand drop. She took a breath. "Emerald: heal her as best you can. If she lives, she can go to prison. If not..."

"Wh-why...?" Tyra gasped. "Why wouldn't you just...let me die here?"

"Well, if I just let you die tonight, then I'll _never_ get to find out what kind of person you are. With you alive, locked away, I can keep trying to figure you out, mother. As long as it takes...until I _understand you_. And maybe, you can understand a bit more about _me,_ too." Cinder paused. "And, well, with where we are right now...I don't think this place needs any more bloodshed. What's the phrase...a little on the nose?" She flashed a smirk.

Tyra said nothing, just turned her head as Emerald came forward to place glowing hands over her chest.

Flora's hand was on Cinder's arm, stroking at her. Squeezing at her.

A warmth spread in Cinder's chest. Satisfaction, pride, and-

And then the warmth in her chest exploded into a raging inferno.

Cinder screamed as agony burned in her chest, her hands flashed to it, pressing, clawing-

And then the world was lost to darkness.

* * *

In darkness of mind and soul, woman and girl faced one another.

"What did you _do_ , why did you do that?! It was over, it was _over_!" Cinder screamed, lashing out with an arm.

A shrill noise of pain, a little thud on ground that didn't exist. Sniffling, crying.

"I d-don't _want it to be over_. You're going to kill me; you won't let me out, I just know it!"

Cinder's breath caught. She sighed. Pitched her voice soft. "Listen, I am- so sorry that I hit you, I just...it's _over_ , it's _done_. And you...you and I need to talk. Sit down - now!"

"Ok..."

Cinder lowered herself to the dark nonexistent floor, setting her hand in her lap. "First, why don't you tell me something: how does a nine year old girl get her hands on the Relic of Creation, and end up getting the idea to create an army of twisted monsters?"

"I c-could show you."

"Then show me," Cinder said softly. "I want to understand."

"Ok." Small, shaking hands on her head, and then suddenly Cinder was seeing the world again. The world of three hundred years past.

Though not, of course, seeing with _her own eyes_ \- but with the eyes of a child...

* * *

_Imryll blinked up at the ceiling, clutching her head as it exploded with pain._

_Shouting voices came to her easily through the thin walls of her little cottage home in isolated forest._

_"...she just needs help, she just needs-"_

_"She needs a miracle, or she's going to die - and we can't give her that, Zilyana! No one can!"_

_"So you just want to give up on her?! Just let your own daughter die? Just like that?"_

_"If there was some miracle cure for her, I'd be the first to get it for her! But there's nothing we can do."_

_"There's something..."_

_"What is there?"_

_"The four magical relics - there was one that the Grish took fifty years ago! There was one they_ used _! What they did with it - what we could do with them! If we just could find one, if we had the right one...we could use it on her, we could save her!"_

 _"The Grish were a hundred strong, and they were just_ strong _. We're just two. Two...weak...helpless...people. How could we ever find one of those things in time? How could we ever use it before she dies? The doctors said she only has a week left, maybe less."_

_"But we know where one is, we know! The Empress of Yashi is keeping it in her palace. The Staff!"_

_"On the lowest level, under the heaviest guard imaginable. People with the best training and weapons available! Mountains of dust at their disposal! And then there's the elite guard - some of the most powerful Semblances in the world are gathered in that palace."_

_"I have a powerful Semblance too! You know I do. I might be retired as a soldier, but I could use it, I could get us in there, I could-"_

_"The penalty for breaking into the palace would be execution. And even if we got back out again - you'd anger an entire Empire?! Bring an entire Empire down on our heads? Forever?"_

_"I would. For Imryll. For_ our daughter _. For her life, isn't that a price worth paying?"_

_"We can't be talking like this. We can't be considering this seriously. Just-"_

_"Just let her die?"_

_"Yes."_

_"..._ No! _"_

_"Then go. Go by yourself. Die, then. I'm going to spend the last few days our daughter has left in her life...right here by her side."_

_Stomping footsteps. Clanging metal. The woosh of flames._

_A sigh. "You do still look every bit like the woman that came charging into that grimm invasion of my home town."_

_"I'm still that woman. I'm still that_ warrior _. And I'm still going to cut down everything in my way if it means saving the lives of the people I love."_

_"It was that, that made me love you. Bloody, bruised, but standing strong. My first sight of you, and it was you shoving that sword through the back of that Ursa's head."_

_"I will save our daughter's life. Just like I saved yours, all those years ago."_

_"I want to hope you can. But I think even this battle isn't one you can win."_

_"I will be happy to prove you wrong, dear husband."_

_The sound of a door opening, and then slamming shut again._

* * *

_Zilyana was moving swiftly along the palace walls, low and focused._

_She used her Aura and leaped high, soaring under the full moon's light._

_Over the wall, coming down in the middle of the courtyard._

_Immediately, several guards atop the high steps set their eyes on her. Their weapons were being drawn. Voices were yelling._

_Zilyana stood, raising a casual hand in their direction._

_A swirling purple vortex appeared from her palm, crackling with energy; immediately, a powerful force was sucking in everything not nailed down. Signs, banners, a piece of an unsteady railing, and the guards themselves._

_All of it went right into her hand, shrinking and vanishing._

_Zilyana closed her fist and jumped again to the very top of the stairs._

_She stalked up to the front doors and placed her hands on it, focusing her Aura; an explosion of power blew them wide open, allowing her entrance._

_Immediately, Dust infused arrowheads were being fired at her._

_Zilyana leaped over a flaming streak. She dove beneath a glacier arrow that struck the wall and covered it over in a thick patch of ice._

_Lightning seared for her; she caught it on her sword and slashed with empowered Aura, dissipating it._

_She raced on down the wide, open hallway, decapitating and impaling whoever came close enough to be._

_After killing most everyone in her path, Zilyana descended the stairwell into the first level of the basement._

_She knew there were five levels._

_It would be down on the fifth that she would find what she was here for._

_Barricades formed out of Earth Dust, a solid wall in the hallway ahead._

_Zilyana skidded to a halt, bringing her hand up, palm open. She grasped her wrist and braced her feet, and triggered her Semblance again._

_Aura-covered banners, railing, and several screaming human beings were launched from her palm like a cannon; it all slammed into the wall, blowing a good sized hole through it._

_Zilyana strode up to it and slammed a steel gauntlet against it, bursting her Aura - the wall exploded, and collapsed at last._

_She heaved a breath, and continued forward._

* * *

_Zilyana limped into the exquisitely designed chamber, toward the golden staff on a pedestal in the center._

_She stretched out her hand, and activated her Semblance again tonight; the Staff was sucked inside her rift._

_Zilyana breathed relief - she'd done it. Now it was time to get home, back to her child._

_She turned back for the doorway-_

_And standing there in her way, was the Empress Sephiron herself, materializing out of thin air and swirling blue particles of energy. Sephiron wore flowing gown of black with silver highlights._

_Zilyana gripped the hilt of her sword tighter, and she raised it before her in both hands._

_The Empress's sharp eyes looked her over - and then became locked with Zilyana's. A hand came up, palm up. "You did remarkably well to reach this chamber, for a lone agent - but now it's over. The Staff, if you please."_

_Zilyana shook her head and clenched her jaw._

_"Give me the Staff and surrender yourself, and I'll grant you the mercy of a life sentence, as opposed to a death sentence," the Empress spoke again, soft, deliberate._

_Zilyana remained silent._

_A sigh. That hand lowered. "Very well. You've chosen death."_

_"Kill me and you lose the Staff forever," Zilyana hurled out. She raised her hand, showing off her palm of faintly crackling energy, and the smallest of swirling dark voids._

_"You have it trapped inside yourself?" Sephiron's eyes were alight with intrigue. "What a fascinating Semblance. I'll be careful with you, then. But the end result is the same: I will have the staff back."_

_"No, you won't. I need it."_

_"Do you have any idea how many people have come to kneel before me in my audience chambers, explaining to me all the reasons why they've_ needed _to use the Staff?"_

_"My child is dying! I need it to fix her, to heal her!"_

_"A reason I'm not unsympathetic to - but it's also one I've heard before as well." Sephiron's gaze hardened. "I have a duty to protect the Staff, and to ensure no one ever uses it - not even once, for any reason. That duty takes precedence over any and all reasons anyone might have in this world for wanting to lay hand on it. Including yours. I am sorry, truly I am. But I simply can't allow it."_

_Zilyana lunged for the Empress with a blast of Aura from her armored boots._ _Sephiron dematerialized in a flash of blue; Zilyana's blade struck nothing but air._

_A hand seized the back Zilyana's armor plating, and with the slightest tug she was flying back into the wall._

_Zilyana struck hard, cracking the stone and falling to her knees._ _But before Zilyana had even finished her fall, there was a flash of blue and the Empress stood over her; a quick foot came up to catch Zilyana in the face and slam her into the wall a second time._

_Zilyana slashed out in front of herself with a horizontal Aura beam. Sephiron crossed her arms and caught it on her Aura, sliding back across the chamber._

_Zilyana raced around the perimeter of the room, eyes locked on the open doorway._

_Sephiron vanished and reappeared to block her path instantly._

_Again._

_Zilyana screamed and threw herself at Sephiron explosively - she tackled her bodily, taking her out into the hallway._

_Sephiron vanished just before they were to strike the wall; Zilyana slammed into it face-first, alone._

_A boot was slamming into the square of Zilyana's back, grinding her into the stone. The stone began to crack, crumble under the pressure._

_A powerful Aura-enhanced fist struck the back of Zilyana's head; Zilyana was forced through the wall, into an empty chamber of dust and grime._

_Her Aura flickered fiercely as she pushed herself up again, sword clutched in a deathgrip._

_Sephiron spread her arms, simply standing there and waiting for Zilyana._

_Zilyana flew at her again, slashing her sword down from above. At the last second she pivoted on a heel, twirling around the woman and dashing out into the hall again. She raced down along it, headed for the stairs._

_Half-way up the stairs, Sephiron materialized in front of her, a long leg stretching out to strike Zilyana's chest._

_Zilyana darted left, seizing Sephiron's leg and whirling her around and tossing her away down the stairs._

_She burst her Aura for a boost up to level four's landing._

_Zilyana knew she was being too liberal with her Aura - but Sephiron was being too liberal with her Semblance._

_That had to even the odds there._

_Throughout floors four through one, Zilyana did not encounter Sephiron again (though, she did battle her way through surviving guards, and some reinforcements)._

_Zilyana fully expected to encounter Sephiron again, if the woman was taking this time to recharge her own Aura by disengaging._

_And she did._

_Zilyana burst out through the front entrance into cool night air._

_Down the long flights of steps, in the courtyard below, stood a half dozen people in formation._

_The elite guard had emerged at last._

_Some of the most skilled, powerful people in this entire Empire._

_And in the center of their formation was Sephiron. The Empress had shed her gown, and wore now only shorts and crop top, black and silver. A highly toned figure rippled strongly as the woman shifted on her feet. In her hand was a sturdy lance, on end of which there was an Ice Dust crystal slotted in._

_One didn't become the Empress of_ this _Empire without being strong enough to continue holding onto the title._

_"Fine..." Zilyana muttered to herself._

_Slowly, she descended the steps._ _When she reached the bottom, she stopped._

_Her hand was clenched at her side._

_She sprinted forth, right for the formation, with a mighty yell - her sword held high._

_Weapons were readied, glances were exchanged between the six - while the seventh in center...watched Zilyana with curious eyes._

_Zilyana leaped high as two moved in to swing for her with bladed weapons; she flipped over them, coming down right behind Sephiron. She swept around with her sword - the woman evaded it with a high leap of her own that took her sailing away. Zilyana rolled forward and dove past a woman swinging a large spiked ball and chain glowing of purple gravity dust. She jumped again, soaring for the wall._

_At height of her arc, just as she was to reach the top of that wall, Sephiron appeared to stand atop it - right in front of her. A sharp kick was delivered to Zilyana's chest._

_At the same time, several hard impacts struck her backside, precise and true, and something wrapped around her ankle and yanked her down._

_Zilyana hit hard, rolling over to see a man kneeling with a crossbow - and a woman holding onto an electrifying cord._

_She slashed her sword down on the cord; it sank in a single inch, and no further._

_A wave of lightning burst along its length, channeling into Zilyana herself._

_She screamed and curled in on herself; even with Aura, it was downright agony!_

_A hand trying to pry her sword out of her grasp, and another clasping hard metal to her other wrist-_

_Zilyana shoved her palm into Sephiron's stomach and triggered her Semblance; the Staff of Creation burst out, catching her in the gut along its length and doubling her over. Zilyana immediately sucked it back in, launching up and kicking Sephiron in the jaw, sending her flipping backwards._

_Zilyana shook the cord loose from her foot and leaped for the wall again, managing to grasp the top of it this time. She hauled herself up over it, but then there was Sephiron standing above her; a hard kick caught Zilyana in the face and sent her falling back down again._

_Sephiron remained poised atop the wall, as the elite guards came for Zilyana._

_Zilyana turned to meet them, bringing her sword to bear._

_Five engaged her in close quarters, while the sixth hung back with the Dust bow._

_Zilyana was being batted left and right, staggered, thrown and bashed against the wall repeatedly; it was simply too much to stand against._

_Zilyana finally gained some room with a sweep of her sword and a horizontal Aura beam. She did a quick use of her Semblance to extrude the Staff into her grasp, tucked it under an arm, and then used it a second time._

_The two closest to her were pulled in without trouble._

_The third was caught by the woman with the electric cord - saving her companion._

_Sephiron appeared right next to Zilyana and seized her wrist, yanking her arm high._

_Zilyana kneed her in the stomach and twisted herself around the woman's body, until she'd maneuvered her palm to aim at the Empress, point blank._

_Sephiron twisted and shrank, and disappeared into the dark vortex._

_Zilyana closed her fist and fell onto her side, and the courtyard was silent._

_Four elite guards were left standing - looking absolutely horrified at what had just occurred._

_Zilyana got to her feet and grinned at them, lifting her hand to waggle her fingers. She shoved the Staff down into her waist belt. "Look at that: I have your Empress hostage. Let me go, or I'll kill her - and the other two I have in here right now."_

_The guards looked at each other. Conferring without words._

_"Alright," said the woman with the electro-cord, wrapping her weapon around her arm and showing open hands._

_Zilyana summoned up the last vestiges of Aura, and she leaped up and flipped backwards over the wall._

_She came down on the other side with a grunt._

_Her Aura was down now._

_And it was still open stretch until the capital city proper - a good several dozen feet._

_Zilyana ran as hard as she could._

_She wasn't going to be caught, she wasn't going to stop - she wasn't going to let Imryll die!_

_She was almost free._

_A glance over a shoulder revealed that the guards were mobilizing for her; of course they were._

_Three were racing after her, and the fourth was perched on the wall with their bow drawn back - an ice arrow._

_Zilyana steadied her breathing, preparing for the last leg of battle to come._

_The cord was stretched out for her; she slashed at it with her sword, batting it away._

_A burst of Aura and the one with twin blades came at her, twirling and slashing._

_Zilyana dove forward and rolled, evading it - but not entirely; a curved sword sliced into her leg, just below a knee._

_She staggered as she came up again, running onward on pained limb._

_She had to make it, she had to reach home again - she had to reach Imryll again. The Staff, all this trouble for it, it had to save her precious daughter's life..._

_The Staff._

_Staff of Creation..._

_Zilyana took it in hand and whipped around, her mind focused on one thing._

_But nothing was happening._

_"Come on, come on - do something, work, do what I want!" Zilyana yelled, flinging the thing left and right. "Make a damn wall already!"_

_The top of the staff suddenly glowed, and a massive stretch of stone wall materialized out of thin air - it went on for miles in either direction, and it was three times as high as the palace walls._

_Zilyana shoved it into her belt again, and ran on to disappear into the city._

_It was here that she recovered her Aura, and thus use of her Semblance, and dumped her captives in an alley unconscious._

_Then, she stole herself a horse and rode on out of there._

* * *

"How do you know...about the parts you weren't there for?" Cinder spoke, pulling herself away from the girl with a gasp. Tears fell, and harsh breaths escaped her lips.

Every single bit of that girl's suffering had been felt as if it were her own - and every single desperate scrap of emotion in the mother had also been felt as if they were her very own. As if it had been Cinder fighting with all she had, doing anything she could, for the sake of Bae or Maggy...

"'Cause m-mother was there for them..." Quavering, anguished and fearful.

"What do you...?" A creeping dread in Cinder's stomach. "Show me. Show me the rest."

Imryll obliged, reaching again to touch Cinder's head.

With a gasp, Cinder was plunged back into a body and a mind not her own.

* * *

_Imryll sat up in the bed as best she could, looking at her mother._

_Mother was holding that strange staff, golden and blue and glowing, a fuzzy feeling over Imryll's skin, and a warbling noise in the room._

_"That's the thing you went to get?" Imryll asked, pained. "The- Staff of Creation? The Relic?"_

_Mother smiled at her, stroking her hair. "Yes, that's right. This is going to help you. It's going to cure you."_

_"How?" Imryll asked, excited._

_Mother looked down at the staff, looked it over. "I already used it once; it- it will be as easy as a tap on the head."_

_"Like a fairy tale."_

_"Yes, like a fairy tale." Mother touched her shoulder, gently pushing her down. "Why don't you relax for me - close your eyes. And when you open them again, you'll be all better."_

_Imryll complied, sinking down onto her bed and shutting her eyes tight. Her lips held a big smile._

_"I want you to be better...I want you to be so much better...I want you to be- so strong, and so wonderfully smart, and good, and healthy inside..." Mother was whispering to herself. Imryll felt the warm end of the staff touching the top of her head. "No more pain, no more sickness, and no dying...not today. Not from anything; no grimm, no bandits. Nothing will take you away! You're going to live, and you're going to make wonderful friends all over, and have a wonderfully happy life - seeing so many places and so many people! Because you're my little girl, always, and I love you so much..."_

_The warm tip of the staff was growing warmer - and then it was getting hot. Vibrating! That warbling noise was getting louder, and Imryll felt something washing over her like hot gusts of air._

_She opened her eyes to find a brilliant blue light in front of her!_

_That light was bursting, and then it was all she saw._ _Imryll had to close her eyes again!_

_Mother let out a cry, and there was a clattering noise._

_Imryll looked to find mother on the floor - and the staff, too._

_"Mother, are you ok?!"_

_Mother shook her head, standing on trembling legs. She looked at her hands, then quickly shoved them behind her back. "Are you okay? How do you feel? Do you feel better?"_

_Imryll looked herself over, moving arms and legs. She sat up, looking all around. Nothing hurt at all! "I think it worked, it really worked! I'm not hurting anymore."_

_Mother sighed with relief. She stooped to pick up the staff again; Imryll caught sight of a bright red burn across her palm._

_"Mother."_

_"Honey? Oh...honey, your- your eyes-"_

_"What?"_

_"They're...amber."_

_Imryll screwed up her eyes. "I think there's something wrong with me."_

_Imryll's skin exploded. Beneath was not tendon and muscles of red, but instead pure black, wispy black smoke drifting off it. Horns burst from her head, fingers grew into claws, a hand became three times its size and covered over in hard scales like black diamonds. Her skull stretched vertically, elongating, and several new eyes emerged on her face._

_Teeth were curved fangs, and a long whip-like tail with a red-eyed human skull on the end of it burst from her backside._

_Feet were lizard's talons._

_Her hair grew to the floor, vibrating and writhing like every strand had mind of its own._

_She grew taller until she was hunching over against the ceiling. And then it was creaking._

_Imryll slashed an arm of claws shrouded in black flames, sweeping her screaming mother up and taking her head into gnashing jaws._

_She bit down and crushed her skull, and then she dropped her._

_Mother hit with a hard thud. And lay still._

_Imryll crouched in front of her, staring at her. Overcome by sheer panic and horror._

_Her hair began to move, snaking across the floor towards her mother. Each strand touched her body, every end became sharp as a needle, and they plunged into her skin._

_Mother's veins turned black, wispy smoke rose from her skin...and then she gasped a new breath._

_She thrashed on the floor as she began to change, just like Imryll._

_"Mommy I'm s-sorry, I didn't mean to I'm sorry please-"_

_"Honey, what are you sorry about?"_

_"I- I hurt you I- I couldn't control- I just did it!"_

_"Hurt me?" Mother was confused. "You didn't hurt me; you've brought us closer together than ever. Don't you feel it?"_

_"F-feel what?"_

_A voice in her head. A burst of love and tenderness. This..._

_"And you've turned me into something beautiful, wonderful. Don't you think, honey?"_

_"M-mother?"_

_"I think you're extremely pretty now."_

_"I- I guess so?"_

_"Why don't we go and show your father. In fact, why don't we make him just as close to us as we are to each other. I'm sure he'd love that; he must feel so left out. So alone...so miserable..."_

_Imryll found herself nodding. "Ok. I guess it's not fair to leave him out like this."_

_"No, it isn't."_

_That feeling rose in her again. "You said I could go make lots of friends?"_

_"If that's what you want, yes!"_

_"Can we go do that after...?"_

_"Of course - if you want to. I'll be so happy to help you, honey. I'm sure everyone will just love you - I'll bet they all can't wait to be with you!"_

_Imryll smiled and turned toward the now too small door to her room. "Father!" she called out. "I really need to talk to you."_

* * *

"It isn't just your intent, or your mind's image. It's your wording. Both have to be in alignment, and chosen carefully, or else you might not get the exact results you want. In fact, it could end up...wildly different from what you expected."

"I guess so..."

Cinder fell back on her rear, bracing with her arm. "So why am I in here with you?"

"You ruined everything."

"I helped you," Cinder retorted. "We helped you. And I'm going to help you again - _you_. If you still even want me to."

"I...I guess? I- don't know what to do, I can't hear anyone, I can't...nobody can tell me to do anything now! It's too _quiet_!"

"Well, I'm here," Cinder corrected firmly. "And I'm telling you what to do. So listen to me."

A lengthy silence. "Ok."

"Good. Now, can we still even _do_ that rebirthing plan of yours?"

"I think so. I should just need to..." An orb of blue light appeared beside Imryll. She cupped it in hand, and the light faded to reveal-

"Is that my eye?!" Cinder screeched, shrinking back.

"N-not this! This is like a...a meta- a repres...it's not your _real eye!_ But it'll do the same thing."

"A metaphysical representation?"

"Uh-huh. That."

"Okay...and that will work now? Even with the plague gone? The Relic's affects undone?"

"It _should_ still work." The girl bit her lip. "I was always going to end up normal again with this plan. It didn't need magic or anything. Just...soul stuff."

"Then go for it. Let's see what happens."

"Ok." A breath drawn, and let go. "I just need to..."

* * *

When the world returned to Cinder with a gasp, it was _still_ a world of darkness.

Cinder raised hand to her head, sitting up again. A single hand, a single arm.

 _Well, it was nice while it lasted..._ she sighed to herself.

"Cinder, are you alright?" Flora's voice, so worried, so sweet. "You fell unconscious, there was this big flash of light and we couldn't even-"

"I'm okay."

"Ms. Rynon, are you-"

"I'm still me," Cinder replied. "I just had to have a nice talk with...the Imryll _here_." She put hand to her chest. "Set some things straight."

"You did?" Blake's voice, sounding normal enough, Cinder supposed. That touch of fanaticism wasn't there anymore. "So it's- it's really over now? For good?"

"Yes. It's over for good now. Imryll...won't be a problem anymore. Not this one. Not for me."

Flora hugged her - and stiffened. She drew back with a sharp gasp. "Cinder, your stomach!"

Cinder slid her hand down her front. A slight bump there. _I'm in control of this._ "I know. I decided to help her out with this - I told her I would."

"You're actually going to just...?" Miltia, disbelieving - and even a touch disgusted.

"If it finally gets her out of me, then yes," Cinder said flatly. "She'll just be an ordinary girl, living on Remnant like any other, now. After I have her, I'll give her to someone who can actually care for her. But I'm saying it now - Flora: it's not going to be _us_."

"Of course," Flora agreed. "If that's your decision, I'll go along with it. As long as this is all...really over."

"It is; trust me. And a few months carrying her around is a small price to pay for that." Cinder turned her head, straining her ears. "Is my mother still alive?"

"W-wishing I wasn't..." Came Tyra's weak response. "You really could have just-"

"Shut up or I might still," Cinder said idly. _So she's accounted for. But someone else who isn't..._ "Salem left."

"She did." Ozpin sighed. "It would seem that she took the chance to leave after being certain we had ended things - ended the trouble for her, as much as for ourselves."

"So she's just gone..." Cinder muttered, fear flooding her body anew.

"Yes."

"So we still have _her_ to worry about..." said Flora, anxious.

"Well, didn't we always?" Ozpin said, in what he probably thought was a reasonable tone. "Yet that has not stopped humanity from living, before. And it shouldn't stop us now. But besides...I have a feeling she might not be quite as invested in her old ideas as she once was. She might not give anyone any trouble for a while yet - or even at all. Though, I admit that last part is just optimism on _my_ part."

"Here's hoping," Cinder whispered, resting hand over her stomach and leaning against the nearest wall. As soon as she did, her mind jolted. "F-Flora, I-!"

"What is it?" Flora asked instantly, alarmed. "What's wrong?"

"In my d-dad's old room, I found his scroll. It was a bit beaten up, but it still worked. I managed to find- it has- can we go get it? I doubt Imryll even bothered to notice it when she moved me out of there, to where she made the portal."

"Of course. How about we go and do that now? Does someone want to escort us? If you can lead the way, Cinder..."

"I'll go!" Emerald said instantly - predictably. "I think Hazel's having luck out there - it's quieted down now."

Cinder allowed herself to be helped to her feet again by both Flora and Emerald. "Ozpin."

"Yes?"

"The others that are all still trapped in that realm of yours...with Salem gone, there isn't anyone on hand to go use the Sword on them all. Which means they're still infected, still dangerous. Still..."

"It's still necessary to keep them in there, yes," Ozpin said simply. "Until someone can be found who is willing to give up their life to revert them to normal. Fortunately, as Ascendants, they can remain in there for as long as it takes."

"Yes," Cinder agreed. "Just..." _I hope it's soon._

She really did feel all kinds of awful about how all of this had turned out - even if she was glad it was over.


	11. Epilogue: Rest Now, Subside

**Three Weeks Later**

"Mommy, look what I can do!"

Cinder bit back her first, reflexive sense of _hurt_ \- and the scathing reply that would have come with it. "I can't, Maggy - remember? I wish I could."

"Oh...that's ok, mommy - you can still _feel it_!"

The wind swirled around Cinder, warm and gentle as any summer's breeze, in Emerald's living room; Cinder's destroyed home wasn't finished being rebuilt just yet - and it wouldn't be, for another few weeks yet to come (even _with_ the charity donations Flora had twisted Cinder's sole remaining arm into accepting, from Maiden admirers and the Atlas government itself).

Cinder tilted her head back, a smile coming to her lips. "That's wonderful, sweetie. The little birthday girl's really getting the hang of it."

"Yep! I'm _actually_ three now, and I can do it whenever I want now!" Little hands smacking against her knees, a light weight settling onto her lap. Maggy was pressing herself to Cinder. "See I'll do it again - wait no, now! Mmm... _now!_ Darnit. Not working again."

"Well, actually three or not, it takes a lot of practice - a lot of hard work. Even Flora is going to have to work on hers. It takes a long time to get it right."

"I guess." A huff. "I know you can't see, mommy - it's my fault - so I'll tell you where _everything_ is! Every day!"

"Maggy! What did I tell you?"

"That it's _not_ my fault - but it still is," the girl added swiftly, mutinous to the last.

"No, it's not," Cinder retorted instantly.

"Yes it is."

"No-" Cinder caught herself. Drew breath. "I'm not doing this with you - or do you really want me to punish you on your birthday?"

"Fine!" The girl swiftly changed topics. "Still going to tell you where stuff is. Like there's the table, there's the books, there's the remote..."

"Maggy - careful of the bump! And, that's not exactly helpful. You need to actually say _where_ something is," Cinder told her, exasperated.

"Oh...shelf is left, table is forward - the 'mote is on table!"

"That's...better," Cinder shook her head, reaching her arm down to hold Maggy to herself. "But let's just cuddle, okay? I need cuddles..."

"I love cuddles! I'll give you _all_ the cuddles."

"Maybe not _all_ of them - you should save some for Flora when she gets back from work with Emerald." With Cinder being unable to do any useful work now, Flora had decided to step up and get herself a job at the same shopping center as Emerald. Though, that wasn't to say that staying at home parenting Maggy all the time now, as well as helping Emerald keep things clean in her apartment, wasn't _useful work_ (at least, that was what everyone kept telling her).

"And for my new sister! She hasn't had any _at all_! Since she's stuck in there..." A light little jab of a finger. Then another.

"She isn't _stuck_ \- she's just- growing," Cinder muttered. "She's not done growing yet. And because she isn't, _you_ need to be careful right now - don't _poke at me again!_ Look, Imryll is very- she could get hurt really easily in here right now."

No more pokes came. "Oops - sorry!" Even worse was Maggy's sudden shifting around that came next.

"It's all right." Still, for good measure, Cinder brought her Aura up; Imryll had gone through so much trouble, and so long of waiting (torturous centuries), just to get back here - including the death of her original, main self - that it would be a real shame if she didn't make it because of a negligent toddler jumping around on mommy's lap. The good thing about magical reincarnation rituals, Cinder supposed, was that she was, inexplicably, already starting a good few months into the pregnancy; the hospital had put her at around five months already. It wouldn't take long for this to be over with.

"So you're really not going to keep her? Imryll?" Blake's voice, after some soft footsteps wandering in. A presence beside Cinder.

Cinder shook her head. "Once she finally gets here, I still plan on giving her to someone that can actually give her all the love and attention she deserves - which isn't _me_. I have a hard enough time with the two I have."

"So who is Imryll going to, then?" Blake asked casually.

"Neo."

"R-really?"

"Yes; I've been having some talks with her lately, and she's realized that since she's been so involved with my kids...she wants to have one of her own again. So why not give her the one I'm not interested in keeping?"

"That's wonderful. I'm sure Neo's over the moon about it."

"She definitely is. I might have to put a blade to her neck to get her to give me my personal space back."

"She knows who Imryll is."

"Yes."

"She isn't going to smother her the first night, is she?"

"Do you think she would?"

"I'm not sure. Even after being in her head, feeling her soul as if it were my own _...seeing her memories of life, as if her life was mine..."_ Blake trailed off, sighing. "It really was a one of a kind experience, and a rather amazing one at that, being that way. If my mind hadn't been changed in the process...I'd want to experience it all again in a heartbeat. I think a part of me still does, regardless. Stupid, irrational, insane, I know...but it does. Being able to connect with someone else like that - with so many other people...They always say that phrase about a mile in someone else's shoes, but you can never really know what anyone else is going through. You can't be in their head, their heart. But I was, and I felt...and I'll never get to feel that again. Any of it."

"I'm sorry." Cinder stroked her stomach, bowing her head. Would Imryll miss it all too? Would she try to get it back, later on? Try to steal a Relic and open a doorway to all those people too? Unleash chaos and hell on the world again? Or would she be content with this normal, good life she'd done _so much_ just to try and get back again?

"Without the plague in her, Neopolitan can't talk anymore, and she's had to get back on her meds - just like you lost your arm and eye again after Imryll separated her soul from yours for the rebirthing," Blake said, quiet. "Personal feelings or not, I'm not sure, either way, if it might be a risk to give Imryll to her."

"As long as she's on her medication, there's no risk at all," Cinder replied. "I'm sure she'll do wonderfully."

"Oh, I hope so," Blake said quickly. "I'm sure you're right on that."

As was her entire modus operandi, Cinder didn't _feel_ half as confident as she _sounded_ outwardly.

But, as was _also_ her usual, there was no way she was letting anyone else know that.

* * *

"So, how was school?" Cinder asked, as soon as that door opened, and those light footsteps came hurrying in.

A long breath sucked in, then let go again. A lot of panting, before finally, an answer: "It was good!"

"Good; give me details - like why you were running," Cinder replied.

Bae was all to eager to oblige Cinder.

Cinder sat with her, listening - sometimes asking a question - until the girl had finally wound herself down about school plays, a "funny" incident involving a boy who had tripped over his own feet, and her actually getting top grades on her homework for a change. And then, she asked one more, after Bae had quieted.

"Is there anything you want to do with me later?"

Shifting, and a long silence. "Well, I...uh..."

"Come on: tell me. I told you I was going to try and do better about making time for you - and I have nothing but time now," Cinder reminded. "As long as it's nothing too _physically_ _taxing_."

"Well there is the annual festival soon..."

"Yes, and we're still going to do that, all as a family," Cinder assured, patient. She patted her stomach. " _This_ isn't going to stop that, trust me."

"Oh, good!" A pause. "I- Flora said not to talk about your old home."

"Y-yes, she did - and so did I," Cinder said slowly. She took a calming breath, not wanting to snap like she had the last and _only_ time the topic had been brought up by the girl, since everything had come to an end with the Order some weeks ago now. "But, you _clearly_ still want to know more about it," she added, tense despite her best efforts.

"I...I just want to know more about _you_. You...that whole day before, you were acting like- I've never seen you that way before. It was kind of- freaky. Like you weren't even you. But not like, you know, when that Imryll girl took control over you."

"I know what you're trying to say," Cinder spoke, measured in every word. She clenched her fist in her lap. "Listen, I...there's a lot that I don't want to tell you. A lot that I- honestly don't think I can. Flora would probably strangle me if I did - it's not nice, it's not pretty, it's not...happy. But, besides that, I mean that I still haven't even told Flora half the shit- _things_...that have happened to me in my life. I definitely couldn't tell _you_."

"I sort of figured out already that it wasn't a _happy_ house for you, mom," Bae said bluntly. "I was there the whole time, remember? I saw you. I saw how you acted about it. Being there."

"And I wish you never had," Cinder said harshly. "I wish none of you ever had. Not you, not Flora, not- _anyone_." She sighed, let her hand uncurl. "But you did...so, I suppose I... Let me think. I need to figure out what's even safe to tell you."

"Because Flora would get on your butt about it."

"She'd get on my butt for no other reason except that she _likes it,_ " Cinder said silkily.

"Hey, woah, mom - gross!"

Cinder smirked and lifted her head high - and just so to one side. "That'll teach you to try and get into my personal business."

"Wait, so you aren't going to tell me?!"

Cinder heaved a sigh. "Ugh, I was _kidding_ \- yes, I'm still going to tell you. Just...shush, would you? This is very hard for me to even begin to talk about. With anyone - even your mom."

"Ok," Bae said seriously.

"I-" Cinder began, only to stop again. She breathed. Tried again. "I suppose I can tell you that when I was your age...that was the first time I ever ran away from home. That...very not _happy_ home for me."

"Ok. What else?" Bae asked quietly.

"I...well, you've seen a bit of my own mother by now. I went from her house, when I was actually Maggy's age, to the- that place. The Nuveri family. My...my dad- he took me away from my mother's, and we ended up...there. He married Lady Nuveri, and I was...taken into the family with him. I had three stepsisters. But from the start we never- got along. They didn't like me. Neither did Lady Nuveri. I lived there until I was sixteen."

"And they...they- hurt you there?"

"Y-yes. But it didn't- actually _start_ happening until I was six - after my d-dad had died."

"So they...hit you and stuff?"

Cinder laughed. "Is that the worst thing you can think of?" The worst thing any normal kid could think of?

"W-well- name-calling? Insults?"

"They did some of that, too," Cinder admitted easily. "That, hitting, and making me work all the time. Keep the house clean, clean up all their messes - keep every picture frame perfectly tilted, every knick-knack on the shelves arranged how they were meant to be. Not a one out of place. All of that, and...those things I can't tell you about."

"What things?"

"I _just said_ -" Cinder began viciously, before catching herself. A breath. "I...I told you."

"I'm sorry."

"Just- just- you don't really want to hear it. Once you do, it's not going to leave you. It hasn't left _me_. And I...don't want to leave that with you. Stuck in your head, like it is in mine."

"I just-"

" _No!_ " Cinder snarled. "Listen: _this is enough, I'm finished, and if you even dare try one more time-_ "

"O-ok, I won't, I'm sorry!"

"No _...I'm_ sorry." Cinder said instantly, her throat tight. She bowed her head to let her tears run down her face. _Dammit, Imryll, you're not making this any easier for me!_ At least that nice pamphlet had told her what to expect with this whole pregnancy business. She could at least account for it in life. "It's just- you can know me...but you shouldn't know _all_ of me _._ _I_ don't even want to know those parts of me anymore. U-understand?"

"Yes! I'm really sorry, mom, I didn't mean to make you start crying-"

"I'm not crying because of _you_ ," Cinder snorted - hiccupped. "Like you could do anything to..." She quickly rose to her feet, seized onto Bae's hand. "Come on, we're going out f-for- ice cream and the park! That's what we'll do."

"What- really?!"

"So y-you don't want to?"

"No, I do!"

"Then _come on_." Cinder gave Bae's hand a tug, leading her to the door. "I might even show you a p-part of me I haven't before, too."

"Show me what?"

"My Semblance!"

* * *

"Mom..." came the anxious voice, as mother and daughter walked the streets of Mantle quite aimlessly.

"What?"

"I think someone's following us."

Cinder stopped dead in the middle of the sidewalk. "Are you sure?"

"Y-yeah...I've seen the same woman too many times now. I saw her across the street when we first left the house, and I saw her at the park, and then I noticed her again when we were at the café - she was sitting outside. And just now I saw her again; she's behind us by a whole block, but she's still _there_."

"Okay." Cinder drew in a sharp breath. "Here's what we'll do: we're going to enter the nearest shop you can see right now, and then I'm going to call Flora. Just walk - quick but casual."

"Ok. Uh, there's one there. Oh, sorry, you..."

"Just go," Cinder said, ignoring the likely slight that had just occurred that was her daughter trying to _point something out to her_.

As soon as they entered, Cinder directed Bae to take them toward the back. "Now, tell me what she looked like."

"Uh, she was kind of tall I guess, she had dark hair and dark skin, and she had a coat on with just pants and a shirt. It didn't look like she had weapons or anything."

"How old do you think she was?"

"Your age? Maybe?"

"Okay." Cinder drew her scroll out and leaned against the wall, putting it to ear. "Bae, watch out the window for me - but try not to look like you are. Tell me if you see her either pass by or enter. If she comes in here, and she starts heading our way - Flora, we have a small problem. A stalker. It sounds like Aisha, from Bae's description."

"Alright - tell me where you are - Emerald says she's on the way to pick you two up."

Cinder told her, and ended the call.

But Emerald showed up, and the stalker didn't.

As much of a relief as it was that nothing awful happened, at the same time, it just put Cinder extremely on edge for the rest of the evening.

* * *

"Really? A door ditcher? Ugh." Emerald's voice exclaimed. Then, a change in tone, to a more pleased one. "Oh! They left a present - that's _great!_ "

"It could have been Aisha," Cinder snapped instantly. "Check if it's an explosive, or a gas can, or-"

"It's just a money pouch," Emerald said absently. Some shuffling. A gasp. "A money pouch with a _lot_ inside! How much _is this_? Oooh, this is good! I haven't gotten something like this since my last Maiden mission a few months ago..."

Cinder relaxed. If it was just some admirer of the Maiden... She had gotten similar gifts before, though usually not straight cash, in thanks for her deeds. She had always enjoyed plucking them up (except when they became overly, annoyingly frequent).

A scattering on the table, a voice murmuring to itself...

" _Wow_ ," Emerald said finally, whistling. "This is several _million_ lien! Thank you to whoever I helped out there - you were either a rich socialite, or you were some CEO of a company. Because this, I've never even seen this much money before - _oh, hey, there's a note_. A cute little note."

"Read it," Cinder advised.

"Let's see here...ahem: 'Ci...'" Emerald trailed off. She started again. "'Cinder, you were left in a rougher shape than I ever thought - and so was your kid. So was your house, I saw! You probably won't believe this, but, I am really sorry for all that. It's been bugging my brain for weeks. So, for my own peace of mind, here you go. Signed, The Idiot.'"

"It's for us?" Flora said, amazed. "From...?"

"From Aisha," Cinder surmised. "Idiot with a guilty conscience...thinks she can just throw a few million at a problem and fix it..."

"Well, a few million _can_ fix our house - and get you those cybernetics much sooner than we ever expected to be able to!" Flora said quickly. "If this isn't laundered or something, that is. If it's not, we should take it with grace and gratitude."

Cinder missed being able to roll her eyes. She tossed her head in similar motion anyways, though it still wasn't the same. "Fine, okay, it _can_ fix _some_ problems. But if she thinks that's enough to make up for kidnapping Maggy _in the first place_..."

"Of course it's not," Flora agreed. "But, at the same time, why kick a gift horse in the mouth? And also - what are you going to do about it? About her?"

Cinder sighed. "Right, of course. I'm going to do nothing about her - not if we never cross paths again."

"That's a wonderful compromise," Flora complimented. "If you _do_ run across her again, feel free to give her another smackdown with my blessing! But, until then...just forget her. We don't want to go inviting more trouble onto our heads. Not when we finally got out of it."

"I know. I'm happy to say I don't _want to have to_ go after her any time soon," Cinder confessed.

* * *

The knock at the the door to Cinder and Flora's rebuilt home came in late morning, over two months later.

"Hey..." came the young man's voice, tentative and quiet. Neutral as could be.

Cinder froze, arm slinging over her highly swollen belly. She was closer than ever to being done with this now - thank god. "H-hello."

"I- look, I know this is very sudden and- but could I- I'd like to come in and talk with you, if that's okay."

"Okay..."

So it was that Cinder led Jaune Arc into her living room.

"You can sit anywhere," she told him quietly, seating herself on the couch and drawing in her legs as much as she could. Her shoulders did the same.

"Th-thanks."

Silence.

"Pretty quiet in here - the wife and kids having a nice day out without you?"

Cinder restrained a growl. She reminded herself firmly that it wasn't right, that it wasn't fair, that this young man was her _victim_ \- and if anything, _he_ should be the one trying not to strangle _her_. "Y-yes, in fact," she managed to choke out. "Why...are you here?"

"I...I don't know, honestly. Maybe I'm just...trying to _understand_ the woman who murdered the only girl I ever loved."

Trying to understand the woman who...? And Cinder had thought this young man had no grasp on subtlety. Here he was, using the same words at her that she'd used at her mother - he'd been in the room at the time, of course he would have heard.

Cinder sat in silence, waiting for him to speak again. And he did.

"During our battle at Haven...when I did...call you broken, when I asked you how you could do all the things you've done...I wasn't looking for an answer, then. I was just being emotional, stupid, I was trying to _hurt you_. I didn't really want to know, I didn't really care. Not back then."

"But now?"

"Now I do," he confirmed, heavy. "I'd like to know...what could possibly have happened in your life, what happened _to you_ , to cause you to make the choices you made in life...that led you to do what you did when you came into _mine_. Into _hers_." He paused. Then- "I mean, that mansion, the way you reacted to it - I'm not a moron, I know it couldn't have been a bundle of sunshine and rainbows for you - but how does that get you from _there_ to...to Beacon? To Pyrrha? To Ozpin? To Haven? To Salem? And to the way you were so- so...I still can't figure any of that out."

Cinder sat up straight, drawing a breath. She knew she owed answers to this young man just as much as her own mother owed answers to _her_. The difference was that Cinder was not going to hold them back from _her_ victim. Even as hard as it would be for herself, she knew she owed it to him to give it to him. Because it _was_ about him - not her. "I'll tell you everything about my life," she began softly. "Even things I've never told my own family. Whatever you decide to take from it, or do with it, or however you want to feel about it - about me - that's all entirely up to you."

"Well, I'm here, aren't I? I'm willing to hear it - please."

"Okay, then. I suppose the place to start is..."

* * *

"Ms. Zang - it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Thank you, Doctor."

"Come in, please - sit."

Salem complied, lowering herself onto softness and splendor - for Mantle.

"So then, I was recommended to you by a...friend. But now that I'm here, I'm not sure where to begin."

"Start by saying whatever you like. Start wherever you'd like - whenever you'd like to."

"Well," Salem sighed. "I- suppose it all began when I was a girl. I...grew up with my father. Alone. Locked up at home with him. I never took my first steps into the world, proper, until I was an adult. And it was only thanks to a very brave man who had come to get me out there. He freed me, he was- marvelous. We fell in love, but it was only a few short weeks after that he...became very ill. Deathly ill. Because of this, we had to be- apart for a long time. It was incredibly stressful, and I tried several times to take my own life. I didn't succeed."

"I see. Please, keep going."

"Yes, well...after that, over the years apart, I became- imbued with a...mind-altering- substance. It was daily, constant. Every waking moment. It was my new normal. It was...due to a stupid hope, desperate act. I was still- affected by this substance when we ended up meeting again - after he was better again. I was numb, I was angry, it was this fog in my head all the time. But he was strong again. The man I'd missed so dearly. And this time, we had time to do it all properly. We had a splendid home, we married, and even started a family. We had...four girls. E-Endora, Lani, Jesse, and Dorothy."

"Only, because of this substance, this- way my mind was being altered, I- it caused problems between us. I..." Salem put her hands together tightly in her lap. "We disagreed on a lot of things, and ultimately, he felt like I was a danger to him, and to our daughters as well. One night, he tried to sneak away with them. I knew he would: I waited for him. They were in the room with us, and we got into a- a very violent, very powerful fight. It involved...powers. When it was over, t-they were dead, and he was- _nearly_ dead. And I couldn't feel anything, I couldn't care - just anger, hatred. Fury, at how he'd tried to leave me - take them away from me! The truth didn't hit me until later. The remorse, too. The- the fact that I had killed them, that it was my fault."

"It was a very, very long time until we truly saw each other again, after that night. Two years ago, now, we came face to face again. And he told me he still loved me, he told me he didn't blame me, that he knew I hadn't been in my right mind at the time. He tried to...I didn't listen, I didn't forgive him back. But I did...change, after that meeting. I- went completely clean from the...substance. My mind the past two years hasn't been foggy anymore, I'm not just cold inside, it isn't just anger. The world isn't so distant from me. It's overwhelming, most of the time. Just the sun on my face, the way the ground is under my feet, or how sharp pain is again. My emotions, too, they're...very _present_."

Salem paused, eyeing the man across from her. She ducked her head, staring as hard as she could at her own hands. "And then we come to two weeks ago, now, where circumstances forced my ex-husband and I to spend a few days together again. It was a serious situation. Tensions were very high, needless to say. The whole time, he kept being so...he brought up so many painful memories, he brought up my guilt, our daughters, and I-" She stopped. "We just have very different ways of looking at the world, and coping with it. He sees hope, joys, simple pleasures, love and light, whereas I...I never have. I just want to be cold again, distant from it all again. I want to numb my mind again. I don't want to feel any of this, I don't want...but at the same time, I don't want to go back to how I was - back on that...that substance. I realize it was a mistake. I do realize how I behaved back then was- unforgivable. But I'm not sure where that leaves me _now_. I have no idea what to do with myself, in this world, in life itself. It's been so long since I took any real joy in the simplest things, and it's been so difficult just to admit aloud that I even...I don't know what to do with myself!"

"So that-" Salem lifted her head, brushed her hair back behind an ear. "-that is why I'm here now. A - friend...recently told me some very insulting, but perhaps very truthful things to my face, and I couldn't help but think it all over lately. She told me I was broken inside, that I was squandering the potential of life away, and that I needed help. Medicine and...well, therapy." She gestured at the man. "That's why I came to you - I decided to take her advice, and see what...what happens. If I can even find some way in this world, something more, something _else_...because I can't be what I was before. I know that much is true. Can you help me?"

"I can help you to help yourself," the man said finally. "But whatever you take from this, or any future sessions - if you'd like to come back again - is entirely up to you. However you might change, improve yourself, change your perspective...that is all going to be up to you, Ms. Vang. You're going to have to be honest, with me, with yourself, and you're going to have to do a lot of soul searching. And maybe, then, you can get what help you're looking for here."

"All right." Salem rose, hands at her waist. "Then I'll see you again next week? That is how this works?"

"If you feel you've said all you need to today," the man nodded. "And if you'd like to come back again, yes. Consider what you'd like to say next time, then, if you would."

"Yes, I'll- do that. Thank you."

Salem swept from the room, feeling, inexplicably enough, a bit lighter.


	12. The Tale Ahead: Legends Should Scatter

**Twelve Years Later**

Maggy Rynon was jumping out the window of her bedroom, flying high with Aura. And then she was lifting herself far higher, soaring on wind. Her wind.

It was so wonderful for her - flying! A wonderful feeling. A feeling that always seemed to help her mind to relax, and help it to _remember_ , after a fashion; a warmth of arms around her, a voice in her ear. Vague and wispy things, feelings more than actual memories. It was all just feelings.

But it was never _just those feelings_ : it was a whole lot of other ones, much less pleasant ones too.

They were similar feelings to the ones that came over her when she'd brush a hand over the right side of her face, trace the thick, long scar that started at very corner of her lip and went back to below the ear: guilt, and remorse enough to make her chest hurt and her throat close up. To make her start to really cry and hiccup all over the place. And once it got going, she always had a hard time getting it to stop again.

And, she always felt like...like she didn't deserve to have it stop.

Her mom, and her older sister, Bae, along with people in her life like Neo or Emerald, would always tell her these were about her _other_ mom - Cinder. The time they'd spent together in life. They'd all even told her about those times themselves - but Maggy could never join them in that reminiscing. Why she couldn't, she'd never even known. Just like she had no clue why her mom had disappeared from her life, years ago, right out of the blue. Why she'd _left her!_

A lot of people seemed to think the two things were related; Maggy agreed, but she didn't really care to find out more.

She was scared to find out anything more.

Maggy was just _sure_ that her mom's disappearance was _all her fault._

That was why _she_ had decided to disappear tonight, too.

Leave home, leave it all behind, and never look back!


End file.
